A Time to Every Purpose
by SetsunaKou
Summary: Set 3 years after the anime, the entire cast find romance & adventure through 4 Eras of TimePresent Day, Ancient Egypt, Medieval England and the Lost City of Atlantis! YugiTea SetoSerenity JoeyMai PegasusCecelia DukeVivian TristanMiho RyouRebecca MarikKar
1. Chapter 1

We do not own "Yu-Gi-Oh!" nor any characters.

This story is set approximately 2.5 years after the end of the series, and features the couples of: Yugi x Tea, (Atem x Teana), Seto x Serenity, (Seth x Kisara), Joey x Mai, (Jono x Maya), Tristan x Miho, (Tobin x Mihala), Ryou x Rebecca, (Adonah x Bekah), Duke x Vivian, (Deuel x Veroni), Shadi x Ishizu, (Shada x Isis), Marik x Karen (Namu x Kara), Odion, (Karim), Mokuba (Kubarin), Maximillion x Cecelia, (Akunadin x Shindia), Dark Magician x Dark Magician Girl (Mahado x Mana)...

**A Time to Every Purpose**

**Chapter 1**

Strains of pounding music blare loudly from a tall, highrise building in the middle of town, as a lone girl dances with a fierce intensity that she has only felt in recent weeks and days.

She considers the events the of the day as her long, thin legs gracefully, and artfully, carry her back and forth across the dimly lit studio room. Classes were over by now but her kind dance instructor had seen Tea's frustrations during the session. He had let his most promising student remain behind to use the studio as he thought it would be for the best if the young girl worked her emotions out. What better way to do so than in the blood pumping dance moves she so loved.

Love...

But it wasn't the exertion of her dancing that left Tea with a lack of air. Nor was the fury of flung out arms and kicked up legs the source of the chestnut haired girl's breathlessness. It was the dream--the dream that would not let her go. It had haunted her every sleeping and waking thought for days and nights on end. Unlike other normal dreams, Tea could still everything that happened in this particular one. She could still see his handsome face. She could still hear his deep voice calling her "his love." She heard the whisper over and over that he was her husband, and she, his wife.

She could still feel the strong, tanned arms around her. The heat of his skin touching hers possessed her...

"It is you, is it not, my Queen?" A mysterious voice whispers to her through her daydream and wakes her from her reverie. So wrapped up in both thought and music surrounding her, Tea had never noticed the dark woman enter the studio, and was now standing startlingly close behind her as Tea opens her tightly shut eyes.

"Wh-who?"

Tea stutters, finally managing to breathe out. Her already short breath was being tried to its fullest by the shock of being face to face with someone who she could've sworn wasn't there, just moments ago.

"More precisely--who are you, my young mistress?" Ishizu Ishtar smiles softly as she scans the pretty face before her. She sensed now, more than ever, the striking resemblance.

Tea's mouth falls open as she struggles for breath to respond to the woman's enigmatic questions.

"I'm sorry I didn't recognize you before, Ishizu. But I was so wrapped up in my dancing that I wouldn't have known my best friend if I saw him!" Tea laughs after a few brief introductions, smiling at the Egyptian woman that she and the others had met not so long ago, when they were dueling against her brother, Marik, at Seto Kaiba's tournament.

There was so much weirdness going on then, with Mai and Ryou, and some of the others passing out into what was called the "Shadow Realm" because of some power that Marik had held over them all.

_Sure glad THAT'S all over with...And Yugi...he was able to stop your crazy brother before anyone else got hurt. But all this ancient magic...is getting way over my head._

Tea laughs at herself for the joke.

"Maybe because he's not only your best friend, my Queen. And you have not yet realized just who he is to you." Ishizu speaks, erasing Tea's smile from her face.

"Whoa, whoa, whoa...Ishizu, I don't get all this! Why do you keep calling me 'Queen' anyway? I'm just me! Tea Gardner!" Tea almost shrieks out her name, as if trying to yell it so loudly, that not only Ishizu would believe her identity but maybe, she would be certain of it too, herself.

"Yes, Tea. I know it is your name, but as certain as I am that the boy you call 'Yugi' is in this way, connected to the Pharaoh --- then I am absolutely certain, and just as equally sure, that you are she -- in meaning -- you have deep ties -- no, the deepest bonds -- with the queen from over 3000 years ago. My senses keenly assure me of this fact, without question. Now that I look into your own eyes, Tea...Or should I say the chosen descendant and mirror soul of "Queen Teana," the great Pharaoh Atem's beautiful and adored wife.

"Pharaoh Atem?"

His gorgeous tanned face flashes through Tea's mind and she blushes with the intensity of a Phoenix fire at just the thought of being his...

"...wife?" Tea tries to steady herself as her dancing legs almost ungracefully knock her clumsily to the studio floor.

"Y-you're talking crazy stuff, Ishizu! That's just nuts! How could I be like some ancient Queen? I'm me! Just plain simple me!"

Tea lashes out at the unknown that was trying to grip her mind senseless.

"And Yugi Motou is...?" Ishizu prompts with one raised eyebrow, looking down at Tea's teary face.

"...The tan skinned Pharaoh in my dreams..." Tea weakly whispers. Her mind and heart were both too exhausted to fight it anymore. Her love for Yugi--and the Pharaoh who once resided within him--overwhelmed her entirely by now.

"So you did have that vision as well. The time is drawing near." Ishizu quietly comments, wondering why the girl would deny what her soul already accepted. Tea nods, tears streaming down her cheeks.

"Why do weep, my Queen? Could it be this 'you' no longer desires to share in his destiny?" Ishizu cocks her head, knowing that souls did not change in the sands of time, but often hearts did.

"No, that's not it...I would do anything for Yugi! Anything! I...I love him..." Tea trails off in less than a whisper through her tears. But Ishizu had heard the girl's emotional plea of a denied love that could not be trampled down. It was a spiritual bond that fate wove through two souls to become one. It was an unextinguishable love, destined to last throughout the ages.

And even if neither one realized it, their great love for each other would somehow shine through--so strong it was...

_And is..._

At least Ishizu prayed for it to be so.

_For the sake of the world---I pray that your love is strong enough to span the ages._

"I am so pleased to hear you say that, my Queen." About to explain her mission the girl, Ishizu's smile suddenly stiffens. Her hand placed on Tea's shoulder for comfort, now tensely tightens as her eyes widen with a dangerous intuition flashing through her mind.

"I have to get you out of here!" Ishizu urgently grabs Tea's hand, lifting the quizzical girl up, and rushes to the doorway in an inexplicable panic.

Tea dutifully follows her racing lead to the stairwell, when---

"Foolish woman! Did you truly imagine you could deter me?" A deep, foreboding voice echoes through the lonely stairwell. Fear grips Tea's heart and Ishizu's as well, from the blanched look her usually tanned face takes on.

"Tea! Run!" Ishizu's scream is knocked right out of her as the dark cloaked frame sends a shockwave of energy that sends Ishizu flailing over the railing.

"ISHIZU! Ahhhhhhhhhhhh! Someone help! YUGI!"

Tea shrieks the name of her love, who always triumphed over evil as the decidedly dark clothed, evil man grabs Tea roughly by the arm, dragging her away with him as she kicks and screams out Yugi's name.


	2. Chapter 2

We do not own "Yu-Gi-Oh!" nor any characters.

**Chapter 2**

_ZZZZTTTT_

"Tea!" Stopping dead in his tracks, the young man named "Yugi" grips his hand to his chest as he cries out her name and the terror she feels. It was as if their kindred souls were bound together at a level that even he was unaware of.

"Geez, Yuge! What's gotcha?" Joey yells, rubbing his head where he had bumped into Yugi's suddenly stopped hair.

"You all right, man?" Tristan asks, wondering what could've gotten into their usually self-possessed buddy.

It wasn't like Yugi to go nuts all of a sudden as they walked down the street. Tristan steadied him as Yugi doubles over in an unseen pain.

"I have to get to Tea! Something's wrong!" Yugi breaks into a run, leaving many unanswered questions on the faces of his two companions.

"Tea! Yugi! Wait up! How do you know sometin's happened to her?" Joey asks, as he and Tristan race to catch up to him.

"I can feel it in my heart!" Yugi calls back dramatically. His voice was wracked with deep concern and anxiety as he runs even faster in the direction his insides knew Tea to be. She was in trouble--even danger---that he could not allow to happen.

The three boys made excellent time in getting to the dance studio. The "heart of the cards" as Yugi would continue to state had somehow guided him and his own heart to where he knew Tea must be.

Throwing open the door to the studio, the sight of a woman laying face down at the foot of the stairwell whose crumpled up form gains a collective gasp from all three young men.

Joey and Tristan had caught up, and bolted inside to aid the woman.

"Geez! What happened!" Joey says, shocked.

"Is it Tea?" Tristan cries, as Yugi gently lifts the bloodied, and nearly lifeless female in his arms. He carefully turns her around to see her face.

"Ishizu Ishtar..." The kind soul in Yugi refrains from breathing a sigh of relief that his turmoiled heart would've felt had it been Tea laying there instead.

He gingerly holds the injured and raspily breathing woman, speaking to her softly.

"Can you hear me, Ishizu? What happened to you? Where's Tea?" Yugi asks tenderly, brushing the veil from the woman's bruised face. She didn't look injured from just an accident. The scorched energy type burn marks on her skin and clothes were proof enough of that.

"Oh, Pharaoh...I have failed you. I tried to warn her, I tried..." Ishizu whispers closely in Yugi's ear.

"Warn her of what, Ishizu!" Yugi's now deep voice was soft and gentle as he cradled her.

"...Of the danger..._ cough _..you two..._ cough _ will be facing now...that he's been _ cough _ resurrected..._ gasp _Your future...he wants to..._ cough ..._erase your destiny...for revenge..._ gasp _"

"Danger? Future? Revenge? Aw, not dat stuff again!" Joey grumbles from behind.

"Who, Ishizu? Who do you speak of? And what has Tea to do with any of this?" Yugi wonders aloud.

"The Pharaoh's greatest adversary...The most evil and ruthless creature in all of ancient Egypt. He vowed to return--his thirst for revenge was great enough to bring him back from the shadows you sent him to, long ago..._ cough _ The evil sorcerer--Heishin, has been brought back by fools...and he plans to destroy your future by your own hand! _ cough _"

"My own hand! What do you mean, Ishizu? Who is this Heishin!" Yugi's questions go almost unheard as Ishizu begins to fall into unconsciousness.

"_ cough _The Pharaohess...she is the key...Heishin knows it...He knows of the power you gave to her. What lengths you'd go to save her, protect her...He knows how much..._ cough _you love her...the Pharaohess Teana..._ cough _"

Ishizu finally slips into unconsciousness, leaving a lot of unanswered questions to the trio.

"There's a mad man on the loose once again. But this time, he's made a fatal mistake. I will hunt him down to the ends of the earth if that's what it takes. No one will ever harm my beloved Tea!"

Yugi rumbles out, almost determinedly, almost frighteningly. His jaw was set as he lets Ishizu's body down and pummels out the door of the studio, at full speed.

"Here we go again!" Tristan comments as Joey scoops up Ishizu and they run out in chase of their "leader." No one knew what direction he was headed in, no one, save Yugi himself. He knew of only one man who could help him out now in his most urgent of emergencies.

_...The fate of the world relies upon us, yet again---and more importantly--the fate of Tea, my love...Don't let me down now, Kaiba...I'm counting on you...as a friend..._

Yugi barrels straight towards the impressive Kaiba Corp headquarters located in the heart of town.


	3. Chapter 3

We do not own "Yu-Gi-Oh!" nor any characters.

**Chapter 3**

"I'm telling you! I have no idea what a Millennium Pendant even looks like, never mind where it is!" Tea stomps her foot, angry now at the incessant questioning of the third degree this ugly creature keeps pounding at her.

"My dear Queen...do you truly believe that I would accept that you have forgotten the gift your beloved husband had bestowed upon you to cherish for an eternity, so easily? I think not." Heishin continues to stroke his moustache, though it was beginning to twitch in anger at this stubborn female's denials and lies.

"But I haven't forgotten! I never knew! Listen, for the thousandth time, I am not a Queen! I'm just a normal, teenage girl who knows nothing about a Millennium Pendant! Please! Let me go!" Tea stomps her last stomp of defiance and breaks down into sobs instead, drowning in her own self pity.

"I never did anything wrong! I loved Atem but he wasn't my husband. He only wanted to be my friend!" Tea unwisely lets out in between her weeping, the name of the Pharaoh. Heishin's eyes flare red anger at the hated name uttered from this mere woman's lying lips. He slaps her screaming face so hard that her tears fly across the darkened room. His anger at the despised Pharaoh and anything that belonged to him was still so intense.

"For over three millennia, I have awaited for the time I could take my vengeance out upon he who sealed me away. And you, my dear, are the key to his downfall. Despite your protests, you are the one, doubtlessly. Ironic, isn't it? That which he cherished most in the entire universe will cause his destruction. You were--and are---the Pharaoh's one weakness. His doom will be sealed once I lay my hands on your precious Millennium Item. Do not worry, little Queen, I will have you lead me to it, wherever you have hidden it away. You WILL do as you are told. You WILL not lie to me." Heishin's snakelike features curl up evilly as he thrusts his sceptre in Tea's direction. Her weak and battered body whimpers in the corner as this most evil of villains moves closer and closer. The hissing golden snake atop his staff, begin to glow their wicked control over her mind.

Her mind, perhaps, but not yet her soul---

And never, ever, her heart.

"Yugi..." Tea's last breath before she goes under the madman's evil spell was for him. She slips into a trancelike tate, her eyes going all glassy and empty as Heishin commands her to rise from the floor she was cowering upon and come towards him.

"Now, my Queen, will you lead me to your secret hiding place of the elusive Millennium Pendant which wields the power I require to destroy your mate. It exists somewhere within these ancient tombs----and you know exactly where, don't you, my Queen?"

"...Yes..." Comes the single word reply without emotion. Tea walks forward through the blinding darkness, without fear, effortlessly. Heishin follows her into the inner sanctum's depths of the blackened corridors. His cackles of impending doom were all that could be heard in the antechambers of the tomb of a Pharaoh long since passed from this world...

"So, we're here. Now where on this ridiculous rescue mission of yours?" Kaiba announces to his "crew" of four. No, make that five, as Roland, Kaiba's loyal right hand man, stands ready to join the team---that is, if Mr. Kaiba really wanted him to. Kaiba confidently strides through the finally stopped still plane and presses a button to open the hatch of the liftgate door. When no one answers, Kaiba walks down to the ground outside.

Silently following Kaiba and the other's lead down the stairwell, Yugi closes his eyes, praying, begging, for Atem's spirit to guide him in a land that he once ruled to find his lost love. When no reply comes yet again, Yugi breathes in the air of this most ancient of lands deeply, searching the depths of his own soul, his own bond with the woman he loved, for his response.

But again, a blank.

It was as if Tea wasn't evne there anymore, but Yugi's frustration shows on his brow as he refuses to believe anything of the sort.

_Tea is alive! She has to be! I would know for sure if she was..._

"Shall I hire us a tour guide or are you geeks going to come up with something substantial on where to go?" Kaiba's biting voice grips Yugi back to reality. His eyes meet Kaiba's a he and the others get into the chauffeured limo Kaiba had called foward to engage for this silly little excursion.

"Where that bad guy took Tea!" Serenity Wheeler innocently states with a determined look creasing her pretty brows as her hands gesture wildly in the air.

"Oh, yes. Brilliant idea, Wheeler. Why didn't I think of that?" Kaiba smirks, teasing her with that certain glint in his eye as he pulls Serenity into the car with him. At least he would be getting some "palace perks" to go with this ridiculous venture.

After a long pause of looking out into nothingness, Yugi gets into the car. Kaiba was already on his cell phone, barking orders to Roland about refueling the plane and then again to the driver, to "leave the airport already!"

"Seto! Wait! Joey and Tristan are still out there!" Serenity cries when the wandering pair spot the departing vehicle and run like rabbits to catch up.

"Allright, if I must. Driver, stop the car until those two geeks climb aboard." Kaiba sighs as Serenity waves hysterically out the window for a huffing and puffing Joey and Tristan to hurry up.

"So?" Kaiba focuses his attention back to the question he asked before to the man seated across from him. The gravity of Tea's situation hung heavily over Yugi's shoulders.

"Where to?" Kaiba presses, lifting only a brow with a sideways glance, as breathless Joey and Tristan trample into the limo. His eyes instead bore a hole into Yugi's closed tight ones.

Searching, digging deep into his consciousness, Yugi lets his soul become one with the winds outside his open window. The same breezes that existed millennia ago that now exist again---reborn in every gust across the plains, over every grain of sand in the desert---the spirit of their greatest Pharaoh spoke to him through the nature surrounding, until Yugi finally has the answer he needs. It was as if his long gone partner, Atem, was directing the winds to guide his "other me."

"The tomb of the Pharaoh." Yugi finally utters. The softly blowing zephyrs rise to force gale in the moment he speaks. They concur his decision as the right one and the winds seem to carry the limo faster towards the most ancient wonders the world had ever seen.

"Wow! 'Dose guy were pretty impressive, don'cha tink? Man, people back den must've been real smart to build Sphinxes and pyramids and stuff like date. I never get tired of lookin' at dem!" Joey idly chitchats as three awe inspiring monuments pass by their window.

"Yeah, man, REAL nice." Tristan agrees, though the bumpy car ride was not doing much for his delicate carsick stomach either.

_I think I'd better not look out the moving window, thought, if it's all right by you...Round and round and round...ughhhh...I think I'm seeing a mirage..._

"Enough of the scenic tour brochure, Wheeler. We're not here for sightseeing." Kaiba growls in his usual angry mood at them.

"Well, ex-cuuuuuuse me, pretty boy." Joey taunts back with a stuck out tongue in Kaiba's direction.

"Yuge, anyt'ing?" Joey had come to rely on Yugi's unerring premonitions by now. He trusted his best friend's intuition without question. Kaiba, on the other hand, was another matter entirely.

"How is driving around in circles going to pinpoint which of these rocks is the crypt you're searching for? Yugi, my patience wears thin." Kaiba says, he never a patient man.

"Quit it, Kaiba! Let da man t'ink!" Joey barks in Yugi's silent defense.

"Yes, Seto, please don't disturb him. Yugi will just know where Tea is, that's all. Because he loves her and she loves him. Just like I know you would be able to find me if I was kidnapped." Serenity explains openly, an embarrassed Seto burying his head in his hands at the simplistic---albeit, true---comparison. Luckily, Joey wasn't paying any attention at the moment, for outside his scenic window, he spots somewhere who might just prove to be helpful on their search.

"No way! Stop da car, Kaiba!" Joey suddenly cries out. At the single word, Kaiba halts the driver with a sound of screeching brakes.

"This had better be good, Wheeler." Kaiba comments as Joey pummels out of the car like a speeding bullet, racing some distance before he reaches his destination.

They all watch Joey help some poor man in a turban up from the sands he had collapsed upon. Joey begins leading the obviously darker skinned native back, supporting the injured man on his shoulder.

"Great. We're on some crazy, hairbrained mission, and Wheeler decides to play Red Cross nursemaid to every overheated yokel in the desert."

"Ooh, Seto!" Serenity pokes her love in the chest as a reprimand for his cruel hearted comments. He rolls his eyes and crosses his arms in sighed response as he sits back in the limo.

"Look who I found! And boy, does he have a story for you, Yuge!" Joey expounds as he drags the dehydrated and injured man into the limo. Everyone slides over to make room and Serenity kindly hops into Seto's lap--to his surprise.

"It's Shadi!" Yugi recognizes the Egyptian man immediately. He left his deep concentration to focus on this face from his past that they all last saw in a crumbling temple. His spirit had waved to them, telling them that he would remain guardian over the now deeply buried Millennium Items.

"Yes, I am living flesh again. But Yugi, my apologies." The tanned man barely chokes out the whisper, lowering his eyes to the respected young man. "I could not stop him. The evil one now has many Millennium Items that I swore to protect for the Pharaoh. Forgive me, I have failed you all."

The proud man in Shadi slumps back in his despair of failure. He had let down the Pharaoh for the first time in his long life of servitude.

"Shadi, it's not your fault. Now, please, just tell me where I can find him! Point me in the direction of Heishin so I can take back what he has stolen! Please tell me all you know." Yugi pleads at Shadi's side, gripping the weak man's hands in hope.

"Yes, Yugi. I can lead you back there. But with the power he holds now and the power he longs to uncover, Heishin will certainly be able to destroy you---who he despises most."

"I don't care what he has in store for me, Shadi! As long as I can bring Tea to safety!" Yugi says dramatically, clutching his chest.

"But you do not understand, Yugi. If Heishin gets his hands on the Pharaoh's most precious power..." Shadi's breath fails him and he trails off the warning as he fights unconsciousness in his battle worn body.

"Hey, dat reminds me...how come you're solid now if we saw you as a ghost...er..spirit, in that crumbling temple?" Joey pokes him suspiciously.

"Allow me to explain. Yes, after that final battle with Zorc, the dark one; and the Pharaoh unlocking his memories, going on to his eternal rest, I had pledged my duty to remain behind in the sanctuary's ruins. My spirit would guard the buried Millennium Items for all time. My soul had been wandering so long, I was certain I could fulfill this duty. My new mission as a presence without a body, with the power of the fading Millennium Items, buried alongside, to stop any intruders. But I was not always merely a wandering spirit."

"Oh, yeah. Whatever happened to your real body? Did you lose it somewhere?" Tristan asks stupidly.

"I was just getting to that." Emotionless Shadi shows more than a bit of annoyance at being interrupted. Joey and Tristan share a glance at the bald man in the sheet.

"Please, just continue, Shadi." Yugi ignores his buddies, interested in what Shadi had to say of his mysterious past.

"Yes...It began seven years ago, when I was a sixteen year old boy. I was a normal child, but I was called by a vision into the recesses of a deeply hidden sanctuary. You see, the Millennium Key was leading me through the heavily guarded corridors of the underground sanctum, as if I was unseen, unnoticed by all the guards."

"Three Millennium Items awaited me there---the Millennium Key, the Millennium Scales and the Millennium Eye. Deep inside of me, I could feel that the Key was meant for me. The moment I touched my hand to its golden shape, visions of my life's mission burst into my mind. The rest of the Millennium Items---I knew I was to seek them out, retrieve them and protect them for the Nameless Pharaoh, to whom my Key made me plainly aware that I had a duty and loyalty to serve, in this moment of time."

"Soon after I the Key chose me, it drew me to the mystical Millennium Ring where I discovered that the Ring had been mysteriously stolen from the sacred hidden depths and somehow, had fallen into the hands of a pale foreign man with dark blue hair, in the merchant's marketplace. Covertly, I followed him, watching as he packaged the Ring and sent it on as a gift for his son in England. A scan with my key to the man's mind showed me his innocence in the matter, so I left him to follow the parcel."

"Wait...Millennium Ring...England...? Bakura!" Yugi puts two and two together, visions of the oft-possessed English lad popping into all their heads.

"Yes, he was the son of the man to whom the 'merchant' merely gave the Ring to. He thought it an ideal gift for his child. The son was as innocent as the father, or so I believed. But when the boy opened the present and touched it for the first time, I knew I was too late. For there was a powerful presence concealed within this Millennium Item---hidden for over three thousand years, awaiting this chance to be released again, only possible through his bond descendant."

"Seeing that this evil spirit was no longer the innocent boy, I endeavored to use my Key to explore his mind. However, the powerful spirit of the Ring was angered that I dared invade his territory. He forced my hand into a Shadow Game with the entity you know as Yami Bakura."

"A Shadow Game with Yami Bakura..." Yugi murmurs, knowing full well what that evil spirit could "play" on people.

"The outcome--I was the loser of the game. But before my spirit was sent to the Shadow Realm, I utilized my Millennium Key to unlock the depths of my own mind to set it free. My mind, my spirit, then separated from my weak body as a result. I also managed to take the Key with me, much to the Thief King's chagrin. And as only a spirit form, I continued the mission set out to do. I led Maximillion Pegasus to start the destiny of the Pharaoh by giving him the Millennium Eye and I visited the Ishtar family, warning them of impending doom if the youngest member of their clan did not turn from his ways."

"And then I met with you, Yugi Motou---and the Pharaoh whose spirit was hidden within the Puzzle."

"Okay, but dat still doesn't explain why you'd solid now." Joey was stubbornly stuck on that point. He gave an annoyed Shadi yet another poke, just to make sure he wasn't some hologram or something weird.

Shadi, although weakened and tired, as Serenity hands him a bottle of water, merely gives Joey a piercing glance before continuing.

"It was just days ago that I was reunited with my original, physical form. The evil spirit of Heishin from Ancient Egyptian times was revived from the Shadow Realm he had been banished to over three thousand years ago, when unknowingly, an archaelogist discovered the remants of the card seal he had been imprisoned in. When pieced together, Heishin's vengeance culminated and resulted in the release of his soul from the shadows. I discovered his presence seeking out the Millennium Items buried now beneath the rubble. But he too, soon realized my presence. He demanded of me that I should tell him the location of his true target---a certain Millennium Pendant that had belonged to the Queen of the Pharaoh you all know."

"When I claimed no knowledge and challenged Heishin to be gone and leave the other Items be, he utilized what little power was in them to banish my spirit. In doing so, he sent my wandering spirit back to where it started---back into a body he believed would be long dead and buried. However, several kind people had found my original body washed up on the English shores that day, seven years ago, and taken it to a hospice's care---where, sustained, it has remained vital and alive, though soulless."

"It was there my wandering spirit reclaimed my living shell of a body and I awakened, fully human once again. Immediately, though still wounded, I set off for Egypt, where I sought out Ishizu Ishtar. I informed her of the new threat and the new mission. She understood completely and left immediately to warn Tea Gardner of the danger Heishin intended, once he found out that Queen Teana still had a connection in this era, who could channel the long past Queen enough to find the Millennium Pendant for him. "

"So that's why that creep wanted Tea! Man!" Tristan shakes his head. These stories had vanished all traces of motion sickness with their mystery and excitement.

"But when this human body returned to the crypt, I only managed to covertly reclaim the Millennium Rod beneath my robes before Heishin discovered my presence yet again and angrily struck me down. Fortunately, Ishizu had informed her brother, Marik, to observe Heishin's movements in her absence. Through his knowledge of this cavern's secrets, we managed to escape. I left the Rod with him for safekeeping as I went out to search for your help, certain that Ishizu would bring you here."

"And here, you have arrived. Where is Ishizu?" The cold, emotionless voice suddenly wasn't so cold and emotionless. Shadi, perhaps, had found a heart also within his mortal being, stirred for this woman's well-being.

"Injured but alive." Yugi states in short, clipped tones. He knew he should tell the man the truth only.

"Yes...Then you see firsthand what this Heishin is capable of and he has not yet realized the energy of the powerful Millennium Item he has sought for over three millennia. I hope you see the importance of this mission. I am depending on an outcome in which Heishin does not accomplish his evil goals, for----"

"--The fate of the world hangs in the balance. This is getting old fast." Kaiba sourly finishes Shadi's unsaid warning.

"Do not mock my words, Seto Kaiba. Only together, you can bring down Heishin's reign of terror---just as the legends say your ancestors did, over three thousand years ago. Ishizu was not able to reach the Queen's descendant in time. Heishin has her now and he will soon be able to unlock all her secrets."

"Queen? Now, who the heck's this 'Queen' you keep talkin' about?" Joey dumbly doesn't put two and two together as quickly as Yugi and Kaiba do.

"Your missing little friend, you dolt." Kaiba answers cruelly.

"You mean Tea? Tea was some kinda Queen or something?" Tristan spells out, his mouth hanging open in shock.

"Tea's ancestor...was Pharaoh's Queen?" Yugi asks, his heart both lifting and sinking with the realization of who Tea was and who she is meant to be.

_The danger the Queen was in then is all part of the danger she is in now._

Both times because of him. Because she... she would suffer the same ill-fate, once again.

"No, never! Not my beloved Tea!" Yugi feels the blood start to boil within his veins. His hot anger surfaces once again at any man who dared harm someone so precious to him, for she was the love of his life...

_I'll save you, Tea. I won't allow you to suffer anything for me, because some madman wants revenge on Pharaoh, meant for me. _

"Yes, Queen Teana was so adored by her husband that he bestowed upon her a most powerful magical Item. It was for her safety that he gave to her the Millennium Pendant---the one Item Heishin hasn't found yet. It wields the power to allow souls to traverse time and space--to leave their human bodies and trade places with that of certain bonded others, open to them. Or it can send a soul, lost in the winds of time, never to be found again. Heishin's wandering, unsent spirit has been seeking out the Millennium Pendant for three millennia now, ever since he was banished to the Shadow Realm. But he has not been able to locate it amongst the ruins, for the Queen, though she practically unknown, and did not reign long, knew her duty and kept it hidden so well."

"Oh, Queen Teana was so brave!" Serenity sheds a tear, clinging to Kaiba's arm.

"Yes, she was and she is." Yugi lifts his chin proudly. "Point us in the direction of that tomb, Shadi. We will stop this 'Heishin.' I thank you and Ishizu both, should our paths not cross again." Yugi nods his gratitude as Shadi gives the directions to the tomb where Heishin reawakened to wreak chaos and havoc on the world once again, starting with the Pharaoh---and his cunning Queen who had escaped him for far too long.

But no longer, his thirst for power and vengeance was almost satiated now. Heishin could feel the pulsating energy of the Millennium Pendant drawing them closer with every step as she leads him through the darkness below, towards it...

"So close, Pharaoh...High Priest...I will have vengeance upon all three of you who caused my millennia long torment!" Heishin clutches the Millennium Items his dark powers had assembled in his monstrously huge hands. Their dulling power was awaiting to be renewed again but the hands of reverse time that this foolish queen would show to him---

And then she would die...


	4. Chapter 4

We do not own "Yu-Gi-Oh!" nor any characters.

**Chapter 4**

"Okay. Just say I buy all this crazy Millennium Pendant soul swapping kind of stuff for now. Then, tell me who the hell bumped off this Heishin weirdo once the hero and heroine of this fairy tale peeled off the scene, hmmm? Did he just jump into this 'Shadow Realm' for a vacation?" Kaiba's sarcastic tones echo off the walls of the cavelike corridors beneath the tomb they had followed Shadi's directions and travelled to. But before either Joey or Tristan or Yugi could say something to silence their grumpy companion, another voice from the not-to-distance past cuts in with the answer.

"No, you sent him there, High Priest, or so the records say."

They all gasp as a candlelight flickers in the darkness and the once frightening face of their adversary, Marik Ishtar, appears eerily behind them.

"Eek! I need to change my pants now." Tristan comments, his teeth cringing.

"Marik---dat you? I mean, you're still da good one. Not dat cacklin', evil-eyed Marik that sent me to da Shadow Realm, right?" Joey prattles on as he studies the not so malevolent features on the blonde haired Egyptian boy.

"You mean, with this?" With a smile, Marik pulls out the Millennium Rod that so familiarly sent some of our group to the self-same Shadow Realm in question.

"AHHHHHH! He brought it! Run, guys!" Joey and Tristan cry out together, clutching their hands in fear.

"I'm just kidding! You don't have to be afraid anymore. The Pharaoh brought me out of that darkness---and back into the light. Yugi, I am at your service." With a small head bow, Marik smiles genuinely at them.

"Why are you here, Marik?" Yugi asks.

"My sister, Ishizu, contacted me. She said that you would require my assistance. I came down here as quickly as possible and I am to lead you to the inner sanctum of the tomb that only few know exist. It's sort of like a maze down here---if you don't know where you're going. But don't worry, I know the way." Marik gestures forward his lantern, putting the Millennium Rod back in his belt.

"Yeah, but...how come you got dat Rod when it's supposed ta be buried in all dis rubble." Joey eyes his former enemy suspiciously.

"When Shadi came to us, he brought it to me and told me to keep it safe until you arrived." Marik shrugs. "He said you would need it to defeat Heishin---."

"Wait." Kaiba halts the gang with his hand. "How do we know we can trust this guy of all people? After everything he's put you through, maybe he's working for this 'Heishin' to lead us into some trap."

"Ever the pessimist, Kaiba. We have to believe in some things in this world and the power of friendship is one you'd do well to learn." Yugi rumbles low as he walks forward, following Marik's lead.

"Fine. Just as long as we're all 'friends' here." Kaiba sarcastically gives Joey and Tristan a roll-eyed glance before he follows Yugi and Marik's lead. Serenity was so close at his heels that he feels her trembling hand slip into his in the darkness.

_Oookay...I'm all for 'friendship.' Ha hahaha_

Tristan and Joey look at each other and then bolt after the team.

Somewhere, deep within the crypt's cavern, a dark, foreboding man follows the soft, delicate footsteps of an entranced young girl. Her thin legs gracefully carry her into unknown dangers, but she had no control over her own self. Heishin's influence over her mind was so complete that Tea could've walked off a cliff had he told her to and never been the wiser. But Heishin had use for her before he would do something like that.

That part came later.

She mindlessly strides into a room---a room that Heishin himself had searched a hundred times before. Heishin watches in shock as the young girl slowly and purposefully lifts statuette after statuette lining the mantle shelf, causing the little statue animals to seemingly dance.

Up and down, down and up, left and right, right and left.

It was nothing, no method or reason, save for a rhythm---a certain amount of timing between each of the gold statuettes' little dance---as if they were pirouetting to a melody only she heard.

"So that's your secret, my Queen. How maddeningly simple it is! Alas, I have no music in my heart, so I would not know of your frivolities, dear Queen." Heishin starts weasling his moustache again. It twitched with the anticipation of power she was about to hand over to him.

And then she would be the first to die in the mists of time...

Justice would be served at last. She who was cunning enough to keep this infinite power locked away from him would soon perish. She would be just the first, among many, to fall into the time vortex of oblivion he had been anxiously wishing upon all his enemies.

Tea mindlessly lifts a bejewelled case that was uncovered, holding her most precious treasure it seemed. Pieces of a dried flower from the day he had given her his love placed upon the still gleaming gold pendant. It's timeless wings had not tarnished with age as the light illuminates from the center of the eye awaiting her very touch.

"Uhn, uhn, uhn, my Queen. Not one finger will you lay on this ever again. It will be mine. Mine for an eternity of destruction! For time has no bounds!" Heishin cackles triumphantly and grasps hold of Tea's unaware arm. He powerfully slaps her frail body unconscious as if she were nothing. His ghostly form grew more and more physical with each energy surge. His translucent hand becomes solid as it reaches for the radiant light emanating from this all powerful Millennium Item that held the world's doom, starting with Pharaoh Atem and all who he held dear.

"Tea! What have you done to her, you monster!" Yugi's most angry voice virtually growls at the large man across the room Marik had expertly led them all to.

Taking in the scene quickly, a ferocious Yugi was at Tea's side in a flash. Her unconscious body was still breathing---and good thing, too---for if anything had taken Tea from him, Yugi, the kind, gentle spirit within, would tear the one responsible limb from limb---with his bare hands, if need be.

Yugi shocks everyone by physically and uncharacteristically lunging at the man/ghost, twice his size as he actually gets in a first punch of surprise, dizzying Heishin for a few seconds, and causing several of the stolen Millennium Items to scatter across the floor as the rest of the men rush to his aid.

Serenity runs to the downed Tea, trying to revive her as all the boys attack the big, brawny man with the evil face and cackling laugh.

"Yuge! Save some of da big ugly for us!" Joey and Tristan come barreling in, punching and kicking, the huge gorilla of a man, like a swarm of---

"Insects! I will crush you all!" Heishin screeches loudly, throwing Joey, Tristan and Yugi off his back, like swatting little annoying flies. They all hit the walls with a back-breaking crunch.

He turns his attention back to where a wide-eyed Serenity was cradling Tea. The sought-after Millennium Pendant had fallen in the scuffle, just inches away from their feet.

"Give me that Item, mortal!" Heishin rasps out so ferociously that little Serenity starts to scream as she freezes in place and closes her eyes tightly, as if just doing that would make all the 'bad stuff' go away.

"Get away from her, you ugly scum!" Kaiba's voice was all she heard through her screams. Her Seto's voice, and then several loud ear-splitting bangs. Jumping in front of the weeping and unconscious women, Kaiba whips out a revolver from his coat pocket, shooting several rounds right into where Heishin would have had a heart with expert precision.

_I come prepared. Heh heh._

But to Kaiba's consternation and dismay, the 'oversized gorilla' doesn't go down. In fact, he doesn't even pause in his lunging towards them as if the bullets hit nothing at all.

"Serenity! Move it!" Kaiba orders, but the poor girl was stunned frozen, screaming hysterically now. Joey tries to run to his sister, but his beat up bod wasn't nearly as quick as he'd like. He instead had to watch in shock as Kaiba, seeing Serenity immobilized, turns his back on the enemy, covering Serenity and Tea, with his own body, as though to shield them.

"Kaiba!" Yugi and Tristan call out in unison as the tall, lanky man is hit with the same energy force beam that they saw Ishizu fall by. Kaiba slumps into Serenity's frightened arms, broken and unconscious.

"SETO! Seto! You did that for me! SETO!" Serenity shrieks, hugging his head to her chest in sobs. Tea was still laying unconscious, but alive, crumpled beside them.

Yugi and Tristan once more attempt to barrel ram the larger man, but to no avail. They only managed to get thrashed back by the force of Heishin's powerful blasts and hits.

"Yugi!" Marik screams out as Heishin grabs Yugi's thin frame and throws it harshly down to the floor. So hard in fact, that surely his rib cage would be fractured. Yugi grunts as he tries to get up, but the pain stabbing him was overwhelming. His breath was erratic as an arrogant Heishin strides up to his injured form with a big grin of triumph on his insidious features.

"Yugi! Stand back! I'll banish him to the Shadow Realm!" Marik cries out, pulling the Millennium Rod out, aiming it at Heishin, who suddenly redirects his deadly energy blow back at the youthful Egyptian trying to save a friend.

"Marik!" Yugi yells as he sees the last of his compatriots go down, leaving Tea vulnerable again as the evil one lunges towards where the Millennium Pendant lay beside her body.

Heishin knocks Tea away from Kaiba's slightly moving form as he reaches to pick up the pendant.

Broken ribs or not, pain notwithstanding, Yugi gets up and jumps the unsuspecting creature again with a tenacity that had always made him a winner.

But perhaps not this time.

Yugi does manage to kick the pendant away from Heishin's clawing grasp, just in time. It flings across the room, slipping beneath some rubble in the cavern.

"No matter how hard you try, I WILL carry out my revenge! And I will start by expelling for eternity, your most precious possession! Right before your eyes! Look upon her for the last time, before I send her straight to oblivion!" Heishin rushes to reach for the pendant, ready to finally finish off this strange "new" Pharaoh and his queen, both in one fell swoop.

Yugi was too weak to move from Heishin's last power punch, but his hand reaches for Tea's as he crawls to her side. He was so close beside her, he had to touch her once more, before the end was to come...

"High Priest Seth..." Marik breathily coughs out. He had been creeping all this time, unbeknownst to Heishin, to where Kaiba had lain injured. "This is rightfully yours. After all, your ancestor was the one who sealed this monster away over three millennia ago." Holding out this long, Marik manages to whisper his duty just before he passes out. The Millennium Rod slipped from his hand as Kaiba caught hold of it, just before it hits the ground.

"Fine. I'll try anything, just to stop that jerk's cackling." Kaiba breathes against Serenity's chest. Her fear stricken crying changed into a wide-eyed awe as she watches her hero---injured, wounded and broken---stand up on his own two feet. Kaiba turns, limping, trudging, towards Heishin's back. The man/ghost was cackling so hard that he did not hear, nor notice Kaiba's steady, but uneven pace towards him, until it was too late...almost.

"What's this!" Heishin feels a sense of deja vu---of a lackey who had betrayed him then---the one who sealed him within the wretched Shadow Realm of nothingness---was so similar to this man. He could feel it as he looks in Kaiba's eyes.

Kaiba lifts the Rod that Marik had given him and feels a burning sensation deep inside. He releases a power from within, through it, that he, not so long ago, would've denied the existence thereof.

"NOOOOOOOOOOOO! Not again! I will NOT go back there! Not this time!" Heishin somehow manages to pull out of the way just in time, though his wand cracks in half. His power was weakened against Kaiba's shadowy blast. The Millennium Pendant that he had just grasped in his fingers flew across the room, yet again, as Heishin avoids the repetition of history.

Kaiba collapses under the strain of his soul's efforts. A gasping Serenity leaves Tea and Yugi's side to catch his descent. She slows it, but sinks to the floor under his dead weight.

"You were so heroic, Seto..." She whispers, kissing his forehead sweetly. Her fear for herself was nothing compared to her fear of losing him as he breathes in anguish to her chest.

The candles were all but out now and the light within the chamber was next to nothing. Heishin's eyes struggled to see where the pendant had fallen. The man he believed to be the Pharaoh was open prey now that his 'followers' had all fallen before him in their old-fashioned attempts to halt a new evil rising.

"There!" A glint of gold glimmers through the darkness. Heishin catches it's ambient light in the corner of his eye. He rushes towards it when he suddenly realizes, amidst all the passed out, unconscious bodies of would be saviors strewn across the floor, a voice---melodic, and yet strong, begins speaking as if in song.

"You will not harm him. You will never lay one hand upon my love. For his light will always shine through your darkness. Begone, and let us rest."

Yugi's eyes open as her melodic voice sweeps over his soul, clearly dazzling like a ray of sunshine. Tea was now standing within a sea of light. Her skin was tanned and soft hued. Her silken dress was ivory with gold trim--from her mauve cape to her golden tiara. She was stunningly beautiful---a gentle woman with a fierce determination in her sparkling eyes that was the same in the Tea he knew.

Yugi looks and his Tea was no longer beside him on the floor. She had somehow transformed into the Queen Teana herself. The spirit of the long dead queen lived again in Tea's time of need---just as Pharaoh Atem had lived within him...

_"She is beautiful, and breathtaking when she glows, is she not, Partner?"_

Ah, the familiar voice washes over Yugi once again. It had been almost three years since his soul had last been visited by the Pharaoh. After a long struggle, he had finally gone off to rest in peace. His life's mission was accomplished at last before he had left Yugi's soul.

"Yes, she is." Yugi whispers to Atem, both their eyes filled with love for their life's chosen mates, as the wind sweeps around her.

"And let them live." Queen Teana states, singing, as she lifts the Millennium Pendant from her chest, aiming it towards Heishin's astonished, angry face, and sending him, lost through time, into nothingness, at long last----never to curse anyone again.

"Tea?" Atem's spirit lifts Yugi's battle ravaged body from the ground as he helps Yugi limp over to where Tea/Teana was shimmering in her full beauty. She was so radiant and lovely that she took his breath away.

"She wants to see you, Yugi...She wants to know...if you love her as much as she loves you. But she is afraid...that it will tear your friendship apart if you do not feel as she does. Tell her, Yugi. Show her. By word, by touch---do not be afraid. Fear is what keeps us all in the dark. Give Tea your light for always---just as my Pharaoh has given me his, for an eternity." Queen Teana whispers in soft, lilting tones. Her smile warmed Yugi as she transcends Tea's body and the two ancient spirits gaze into each other's eyes and embrace with utmost love as they bid farewell to their "other selves" for a lifetime as the winds carry them up towards the heavens.

"Ohh..." Tea softly moans, as she awakens from her unconsciousness, dizzily falling into Yugi's waiting arms.

"Tea...are you all right?" Yugi anxiously asks the girl collapsed in his arms, her shallow breathing and trembling causing him concern.

"I'm...I'm..." She stumbles for breath. "Yugi!" She melts into his purple gaze, hugging his neck, staining it with her tears. "I'm safe now. You saved me! I knew you'd come. I knew it! I was so frightened..." Tea cries on his chest, openly, feeling Yugi's rapidly beating heart slowly calming her own troubled soul.

"Tea..." Yugi's low voice seems to stroke her anxieties. His gentle hands caress the worry lines on her brow, then touch her cheek softly.

"You don't have to be ever frightened again, Tea. I'll always be here for you---always."

Yugi shushes her sobs as he holds her to his chest tenderly. "Tea, look at me." Yugi lifts her chin up to his face. His eyes try to search hers, full of tears. "I'll always be with you, Tea, because I love you. I have always loved you---since the first day we met---all those years ago. I just never thought I'd be lucky enough for you to return my love. Tell me, Tea. Am I that lucky?" Yugi's voice was as strong and confident as ever, but there was a certain softness in it, one that pervaded all of Tea's senses. She was lost in a purple haze of eyes that she could no longer turn away from.

"Oh, Yugi...You feel the same way? I'M the lucky one. I've loved YOU for forever!" Tea breathlessly whispers her plea of love. Her big blue eyes widen with surprise and wonder, filled with love and admiration at her knight in shining armor.

Her Yugi, her king.

He kisses her passionately for the first time as both hearts soar to new heights as the winds sweep around them.

"Just like Atem and Teana...our love with transcend all---neverending..." Yugi whispers in Tea's ear as his lungs cried for renewed breath. He cradles her trembling form in strong, lean arms until it ceases, replaced by a steady, pulsating warmth against his chest. As he stands, he lifts her to her feet, both of their worn, weary bodies lean on each other. Tea feels so complete as Yugi brushes strands of stray hair from her face with a touch so gentle.

"Yugi...I love you." Tea whispers to herself more than anyone. She let her fears and inhibitions go, finally.

"And I have loved you for an eternity, my beloved Tea." Yugi says into her hair, and his arms tighten around her. The fire of love inside her was burning with such intensity that she positively glowed. Her face emanated such a light into his.

_Yes, you're right, Atem...She's beautiful when she glows..._

"Hey! Can we get outta this spooky tomb, now, Yuge, huh?" Joey's voice could be no further from Yugi or Tea's ears. The two of them were off in their own little world, no longer aware of anyone else's existence.

"They're NOT hearing us, Joey." Tristan rolls his eyes at the lovey-dovey pair indulging in one another's arms and eyes and lips.

"Soooo, Moneybags, when's the next flight outta----HEY! SERENITY! Get offa dat jerk!" Joey blows a head gasket when he catches sight of yet another pair of lovebirds. Serenity was obviously so overwhelmed by all the excitement that poor, wittle Seto has to carry her in his strong arms and kiss her tears away, too. (By the looks of it, she must've done quite a bit of crying!)

"Doesn't anyone want to get out of this hole but me!" Two pairs of gooey gooey lovers and one irate brother caterwauling at them made Tristan feel pretty left out.

"I'll join you if you'd like, Tristan." Marik's voice comes up from behind, scaring the pants off of Tristan, as Marik gathers the Millennium Items, holding up the Rod and the Scales.

"...I'll get back to you on that one in a bit. HEY! Joey, wait up, man! Don't leave me alone with Marik! He might freak again! Anything goes in these crazy Egyptian places! AHHHHHHHH! Wait for me!" Tristan starts chasing Joey around the room as Joey chases in turn, trying to get his hands around Kaiba's neck.

But the long legged CEO of a major corporation proves too fast as Joey falls down as he trips, his head coming up with an Egyptian tomb's dog mask.

"See? I always knew you were a dog!" Kaiba laughs, teasing Joey as he gathers Serenity in his arms.

For Yugi and Kaiba had now both discovered just how wonderful life could be...


	5. Chapter 5

We do not own "Yu-Gi-Oh!" nor any characters.

**Chapter 5**

Even when the wind rustles through trees on the grounds of his manor/castle, he is minutely aware of it. Maximillion Pegasus, long ago, shared a bond with this plot of green earth that he called his home. In reality, though, it was less "home" and more refuge for a recluse. It was a place where the tall, thirty-four year old man could lock himself away from every single other soul in the universe---except for hers...

"Cecelia..."

Even in waking hours, Maximillion's heart would ache for his long-deceased wife so much that she permeated his consciousness. Memories of their childhood friendship that had blossomed into a love like none other---

And then was transformed into a grief like none other in one terrible moment, in the blink of an eye.

And she was gone.

_It was all my fault..._

Maximillion could still feel intensely the guilt that still accompanied his beautiful wife's untimely death. She was too vivacious, too adorable, too lively and happy, to have the very life drained from her. Her life in exchange for someone else's...

_That's all folks...I can't do this tonight, anymore..._

Pegasus breaks the eerie silence of the art room he was ensconced in, where painting after breathtaking painting hung in all of their gorgeously detailed glory. There was only one other eerie thing about the large castle studio's walls---every subject of every painting was of the same girl. Her depth of eyes and warmth of smile conveyed her brink into womanhood---a womanhood filled with an indescribable love reflecting in her eyes for he who she was the model for.

He was the artist who, not only captured her every feeling and line, but also the same he who had sculpted the lines across her heart. It was a heart that only he entered in.

_Why couldn't it always stay like that? As perfect as those days depicted here, of you and I, deliciously happy and content...and so alive on these grassy knolls. Why did someone else have to come and interfere with our joy? Why?_

Pegasus almost slams his brush down on the easel of the current painting he was working on. But with this particular painting, surrounded in the mists of countless others, he could not concentrate. It was as if his mind was on something else and not the portrait. He had already promised it to the museum for next week's Egyptian art exhibit. They had been most interested in Maximillion Pegasus' contribution----especially concerning his infinite knowledge of the game of Duel Monsters that even the ancients once seemed to play.

Even without the insight his Millennium Eye had once endowed him with, Pegasus still felt deep influences concerning ancient Egypt and the Shadow Games they had invented. Although he was the creator of the now famed game himself, Pegasus didn't fully understand everything that went with its mysteries.

_Not like Yugi-boy or Kaiba-boy. They're connected to it all somehow, I've heard. Ah well, too much for my little old mind to manage._

Moving away from his veranda, Pegasus takes yet another sip of his long stemmed glass of expensive wine and sets it on its nightstand perch.

"Perhaps a good night's sleep will rest me enough to finish the painting for the exhibit tomorrow. Yes, a little beauty sleep can do wonders for the mind, not to mention the complexion! No bags for this cruise ship set to sail tomorrow! Hahaha..."

Maximillion tries to use humor to nullify the trembling feeling of...something...gripping his unkempt heart. Even as he drifts off into an uneasy sleep, Pegasus feels his troubled soul's shaking hand reaching out for another's warm entrancement---

And watch it slip away, out his reach once again, in that one terrifying moment...

_"Maxim..."_

The woman whose face had haunted every vision, every dream and adorns many a painting in his studio gallery, was alive yet again---if only in his imagination. Pegasus felt his breath catch in his throat as he sees his lost love in all her radiant beauty, waning away, about to leave this world---

And him behind...

"No! Not this nightmare! Not again!" In a strange, out of body feeling, Pegasus once again watches, from his floating in the air position, himself---

_No, the younger, better me..._

---Fall on his knees at her bedside as she clutches the sea of silken sheets billowing around her weakened willowy body.

"Cecelia! You're going to get better! You can't! You can't leave me! I love you too much!" Cries out the man who was eighteen years younger than the version of himself translucently afloat in the air above the bed, where the young couple were going through the most agonizing of tragedies two people whose hearts were as one, could ever suffer...

"Maximillion, I'll never leave you..." She barely manages a whisper as her last breath weakly gasps out the pain within her fragile body. It was too much for her to hold out any longer.

He had witnessed this nightmare hundreds---thousands of times---but never before had he this otherworldly, angled view of it. Usually he replayed his role as the grieving lover at her bedside, powerless to do anything to save her, as the younger version of himself weeps uncontrollably. Both of his hands squeeze her trembling one with all his might, vowing never, ever to let go...

"Please, don't leave me here alone!" His voice agonizingly rasps out as he clutches her weak body desperately.

_NO! How many times have I been through this! Over and over! How many times must I be punished like this! Cecelia! My love! NOOOOOO!_

Even the ethereal quality of hanging transparently suspended in mid air could not lessen the intensity of the earth-shattering scream of pain echoing through Pegasus' broken soul. Time had not healed his wounded heart. It still hurt as much to this day, to this minute, to this second---as it did that ill fated day, eighteen years ago.

Pain. Hurt. Agony. Torment.

All of those terms put together could not describe the true horror in his soul at the loss of her. For she was his soul and he was an empty shell of a man destined to live out his days alone and desolate.

_"Don't cry for me anymore, my love. Nothing can bring me back, just the same as nothing could take me away from you."_

Another ethereal figure glides throught he skylit window to join the present Pegasus' lofty heights. She was like an angel whose soft, golden waves of curls bounced about her pure white shoulders and artfully framed a face so beautiful it was always meant to be painted in canvas.

The canvas of his heart.

"Cecelia? Is that really you!" Pegasus sniffles through his hard wept tears, wiping his eyes with the back of his see-through sleeve, to meet the eyes of the voice not only his ears could hear, but his soul as well.

"Yes, Maximillion. I have brought you here again. Your subconscious dreams---the same as your beautiful heart----I have power over still, through our eternal bond of love." Cecelia whispers as she takes both of his trembling hands in hers, caressing them softly to her transparent cheek.

But although they were both translucent, he could feel the warmth of her cheek's touch, her hands over his, the scent of fresh flowers that was hers alone wafting over his every sense.

"Oh, Cecelia! My love! You've come back to me!" Elated Pegasus goes to hold her, kiss her, as he once did so fondly, but his wife halts his touches with a steady and firm hand.

"I had never left you alone, Maxim. Had only your tears and cries of sorrow and regret not drowned out my final plea, perhaps your life would've not been so incomplete, so empty for so long, so lonely. For though I had left you, I had not really left you alone..." Cecelia's spirit trails off enigmatically, her warm, glowing fingers that were squeezing his, departing, motioning towards the scene still replaying beneath them. He could hear his former self's sobbing and cries silenced by the wave of his angel's delicate hand. Pegasus' eye opens wide in shock at what was able to be heard on his dying Cecelia's lips in that final moment of her departure from this world...

"You'll always have a part of me...in our son...Maximillion...take care of him for me...for his is a symbol of what we were together...our child...our love..." Cecelia's muffled words barely escape her lips. She more mouthed them than uttered them; and in his grief stricken clutching embrace, the boy Pegasus was didn't hear her words. He didn't hear a young mother's plea. Even though the birth of this child meant her death, her instincts cried out for the other half of her---him, her husband, the baby's father---to care for the child, the poor innocent little baby whose only flaw was being born, his weak mother, by cruel fate, was taken from him and in doing so, his young father was, too...

"Cecelia! I never heard! I...I never knew!" But the anger at losing the single most important person in his life was then directed at another. The cursed child who had caused her to leave his world---the child who a young Pegasus had sworn, there and then, in that moment of her unheard plea and death---to never have anything to do with this baby.

His rage in loss drove him to send the baby boy away--far away--never wishing to see him again. For his eyes could not stand the sight of the little bundle of joy that had taken away every ounce of his.

His Cecelia had sacrificed her life for the despised child, so he, in turn, sent the boy away without a single thought more. His grief banished all thought and memory of the boy who stole her life's energy from him so cruelly.

"My baby, Maximillion." Cecelia's eyes grow glassy and tearful, matching that of Maximillion's emotion filled one. "OUR baby, Maximillion." She reiterates, taking both his shaking fists in her soft, velvety palms. Guilt was plainly etched on his dashingly handsome features. "Where is he now, my love? I know...but do you? You've met him so many times before. Destiny has crossed your paths, although blinded, you were unaware of it, in those times. I understand your pain and your hurt, for I have felt it, too. I know what lengths love can drive us to, but please, Maxim! He needs you now, just as you need him! I've tried to watch over you both, but I can't stand seeing you two go on, alone, locked away, in the fortified castles you've both built around your hearts. He is so much like you---more than you can know---and I fear, he's about to make the same fatal errors that you made--closing yourself away from the world. Don't let him throw his life away when there's someone else who can depend on him---who can care for him, and love him...She deserves his love in return, to share a lifetime with. Please help him now and make up for all of those lonely, discarded years then. Help him, Maxim...I'm begging you as a mother. Show him that someone else cared for him; be there for him in my place. Be his father at long last and right all the past wrongs. Show him how much love can mean to two people--how it can span eternity..."

Cecelia's voice begins to waver and fade. Her spirit's ghostly aura flickered before his stunned eyes. One final glimpse downward at a scene from his past---at his wailing tears at her bedside---of his pointing fingered hand angrily shunning the child and motioning to the door for the nursemaid to take the wretched, crying newborn in her arms and leave his house---leave his life, leave his world, forever, amidst a crumbling heart.

The Pegasus of yesteryear never even turned to watch his son go. The pain of his beloved wife's loss was too great for his sanity to bear.

Waking up startled, in a cold sweat, Maximillion was not too sure he was glad to see the reality of his chilly, dark room or of his vast, empty house situated on countless lands surrounded by sharp cliffs and craggly mountains.

_You're right, Cecelia...I am alone._

Pegasus considers the dark hallways of a castle manor that few guests ever tread through, if any. He lifts his weary, sleepless body from the bed and goes to his balcony, letting the cool night winds blow through his silvery long hair. After a moment of staring up at the moonlight's reflection, he collects his thoughts, his feelings, his premonitions. With fingers running through his hair, they then touch the scar of an eye that no longer functioned---neither in sight, nor beyond sight, any longer as the wet winds carrying the coming morning dew caress his hot cheek with its cool freshness.

But closing his other eye, he feels a renewed sense of insight. The dream, the vision, filled his chest with the determination he had not felt in years. Maximillion Pegasus, so driven, leaves the quiet unrest of his bed chambers, and races in his silken burgundy robes down two flights of stairs, where the mad dash leads him to his studio.

He switches the lights on, feeling an inner drive to put his artistic hands to the test of their full abilities. He rushes over to his half dabbled canvas and tosses it aside, replacing it with a fresh, new one---

This one, his every sense assured him, would be his greatest and most inspired masterpiece.

_'Right all the past wrongs...a symbol of our love...for eternity...'_

Furiously, paint and brush fly faster than the winds howling outside, as if to defy them all with its magnificence.


	6. Chapter 6

We do not own "Yu-Gi-Oh!" nor any characters.

**Chapter 6**

"What a great time for Mokuba's stupid school to have a stupod fieldtrip." A gorgeous young man grumbles aloud sarcastically. Just then, his work laden eyes catch sight of an invitation to an art exhibition that he had almost forgotten all about.

_I guess this is my little brother's way of reminding me of my duties while he's away. Hmph, You know me that well._

Clicking his distinguished reading glasses snap shut, Seto Kaiba stands up and stretchs his long limbs out. His slender fingers grasp hold of the invitation reminder that Mokuba had sneakily inserted in his desk lampshade. An expertly timed timer device had caused the little cardboard paper to pop out and dangle in front of his computer's desktop screen, swinging back and forth until even an impatient businessman could handle no more of its annoyance to take a look at it. His eyes and mind were off his work at last.

_'Ladies and Gentlemen of the art world, you are cordially invited to attend the opening of an art exhibition extraordinaire, where a vast variety of new and proven talents are on display for the most demanding of fine art lovers and admirers. Please attend to preview a new age of art in progress.  
Formal dress required for entry into the exhibit.'_

The gold embossed print on the cardboard invitation was as auspicious and as equally transparent as it could be. A powerful man in Seto Kaiba's position receives flutter like this all the time from those in his proper class.

_Ha! They have no idea. It takes brains and wits, not bloodlines and social standing to get you to the top._

Generally, he'd then discard (or throw as paper planes across the room for fun when his overworked mind was in need of amusement), but not this one. No, this one was different. This one was sure to get special treatment---

And that was solely due to the delicately handwritten note beneath the invite's printed letters, scripted in the most gentle of feminine lines:

"Please come! I don't think I can face the critics without you, Seto.  
Your Serenity"

With something akin to a sigh coming from his lips that were somewhat in a smile, Seto holds the little card to his nose. Her scent, as he expected---even hoped---was all over its cream embossed tissue paper.

"I guess I can take an hour or two out of my schedule to attend this." He says aloud, as if to convince the walls of his steely office of something his heart had already decided on, without a second thought.

_If I had a heart..Hmph!_

Seto Kaiba was way too proud a man to admit that he was head over heels, madly in love with a girl---and not just any girl---

_That jerk Wheeler's annoying little sister! Of all people! Right, yeah, sure. Me. Not._

His mind was more stubborn than either the heart he claimed not to have or the icy fingers that were perspiringly stuck in his long purple trenchcoat's side pocket that were nervously wrapped around the tiny, little velvet box that had the weight of his entire world inset within its plush blue interior...

"Bring the car around the back. I'm going out." Kaiba barks into his vidcom unit at the door panel.

"But, Sir! The driver and most of our detail are tailing a schoolbus going north to the National Park! It's not really in your best interest to go---"

It was strange to talk to any other security guard beyond trustworthy Roland and his second, but Kaiba recalls assigning them both to watch out for Mokuba personally on this trip. With all the threats they'd been receiving these days, Kaiba could never put his own safety before that of his little brother's.

_Maybe this will be my chance, at long last. No bodyguards listening in, no little brother snooping. Yes, today could be my lucky day. Maybe some good will come out of going on snooze patrol in a dingy, old museum. Once asked, there'll be no question of the outcome._

"On the contrary, it could be in my very best interest. I'll expect the Rolls to be in the back in the next two minutes. Tell the chauffeur he won't be needed today. I feel like taking a drive... Two minutes."

And with that order in the frustrated man's face, Kaiba switches off the com screen and with the single press of a button on that same computer panel, shuts down all operating machines in his office. The lights blink out into eerie silence.

"Thanks, little brother. This is all the opportunity I've been waiting for."

Kaiba's chuckles could be heard echoing through the quiet, businesslike corridors of Kaiba Corp headquarters. The sound of his dark brown boots click down the halls in his wake.

_Ding dong_

"Oh, dear! That must be Seto! And I'm running soooo late! I've just GOT to get these straps tied! MOTHER! Would you get the door? Mother?"

Serenity Wheeler's high-pitched voice calls out over the stairwell rails as she flitters out of her room. Indeed, this was a much bigger house than either side of the Wheelers had ever lived in, now that they had come into some money.

Serenity could proudly look in the new, shiny mirrors and say that she was the one responsible for all this. From that magical time when she and...someone else...had lived to survive all alone, all those days and weeks, on that desolate, tropical island...

_Just me and...him...Seto... sigh _

Serenity was off in dreamworld again. She wondered for the thousandth time why a handsome, important guy like Seto Kaiba would be interested in a little, nobody girl like her. But then again, he was so wonderful and really kind and truly nice, and so verrrry dashing with those gorgeous eyes, that Serenity couldn't believe he---the world famous Seto Kaiba---was...

In love with her.

_But he is! _

Serenity was sure that all the sweet kisses and touches assured her of that.

_Right? Oh, Seto! You're wonderful!_

Serenity was drooling at the framed picture on her dresser, while downstairs the self-same man in the adored photograph, was being so rudely ignored, despite constant bell ringing.

"Serenity! I'm trying to get your father into his suit. It's two sizes too small now, with all this good living. You'll have to get the door, dear! I'm not yet dressed myself. It's probably Seto come for you, anyway." Mrs. Wheeler calls up. The huffing and puffing in her voice showed just how difficult a time she was having getting commonfolk, such as they, in the "formal attire" required for this ritzy art museum.

"Seto? SETO! Oh, my!"

Serenity nearly trips down the entire flight of stairs. Her feet weren't able to race with the same speed that her heart was pounding at the mere mention of his name and closing in proximity.

But despite the dangling ribbon and too high heels, she manages to make it to the door nonetheless. Although, she, in her hurry, was unaware that she wasn't quite, completely, in formal dress quite yet.

"You know, I just enjoy standing out here with my quickly wilting bouquet...in...my...hands...Hmmm? Is this how you Wheelers answer the door to all visitors? The mailman must be pleased." Seto Kaiba turns around from his semi-sarcastic ranting to come face to face with the girl he had come to pick up. But her reddened face wasn't all his widening eyes were taking in.

Serenity's low cut dress bodice was hanging a bit too low by male viewing standards. The tied on ribbon straps of her dress top were not yet tied, leaving a lot more revealed than she probably intended, even for his experienced eyes.

_He heh..._

"Oh, Seto! Oh, my!" Serenity's blushing face showed what his greedy eyes gave away----that innocently, in her rush, revealed.

She fiercely spun to show her silky white back, which was equally a bare turn on to his smirking face in the doorway. She covered up her cleavage with flustered hands and reddened cheeks.

"He he, come here." Kaiba orders as he shuts the front door behind him.

"Oh, no, Seto! We'll be late." Serenity protests as his strong hands take firm grip of her dizzily swaying shoulders.

"You. Will. Be. If. I. Don't. Get. These. Straps. Tied. On. There." With a few short, clipped words, his expert hands had tied two perfectly even, perfectly sturdy bows that adorned her pretty shoulders.

As she examines herself in the mirror, Serenity could never figure out how he did it so nicely while he was looking down her loose bodice the whole time.

"Seto, you're a wonder!" Serenity exclaims proudly, as Kaiba, the great meglomaniac, bends down to tie the undone ribbons around her dainty ankles. The genuine smile that had come over his face, is turned upside down in a New York second when another member of the Wheeler household gives him less than Serenity's wondrous applause.

"Oh, Seto, you're a wonder! NOT! It's not everyday ya see Rich Boy like dat! Kneelin' and shinin' shoes at ya feet, Sis."

"Wheeler..."

Serenity shrinks back at how different a man her Seto could be when her brother was in the same room.

_Why can't you two ever get along?_

Seto's voice was brimming with pure anger and with more than a hint of a snicker.

"It's all your day all over, ain't it, Sis? Better keep it dat way, got it, Buddy!" Joey does his best puffing up as protective older brother. He thought he stood pretty tall and imposing over Kaiba's kneeling form, until the man, same his age, stands up---and up---until he was looking down at Joey, who suddenly felt about two inches tall.

"Oh, I got it...Buddy."

Kaiba, in his raspiest voice, was never one to back down from a challenge and Joey Wheeler was definitely a contender for that.

"Awww, Serenity. Ya sure it's all right if I get to da museum later? SOME of us do got jobs to go to, and Mai'll hog all da good tippers if I don't show up soon." Joey rubs it in Kaiba's smirking face as he passes his beloved sister's shoulder.

"I'm sure, Joey. I know you've got to go to work. But you'll still be rooting for me, even from there, right? Besides, I'll see you later and you don't have to worry so much. Seto's with me! I'll be fine." Serenity's sweet smile encapsulates all three of them, although two of three weren't smiling at one another.

"But he's what I'm worried about most! Aw, heck..." Joey mutters under his breath, so that only Kaiba standing next to him, could hear.

"Gotta run, Sis! I'm gonna be late and the boss is gonna throw another one of his fits! Good luck!" He plants a kiss on Serenity's forehead for luck, racing out the door as he goes past them in a flurry, in usual Joey Wheeler style.

"Smell ya later!"

"Moron."

Kaiba murmurs low, but Serenity could hear more than she let on. She awarded her Seto with a disapproving look at the jabbed insult taken on the big brother she loved.

"All right, I won't say it again...today. After all, the Mor---your brother---said it himself. Today is your day, Serenity."

_I'll make sure of that._

His mind whispers as he takes her in his arms, placing a kiss on her lips that his vigorous eighteen year old body had been aching for since the first moment he had set eyes on her---

And her curvy body on display this fine afternoon.

"Let's get going. I want to show you off. Can't have our own international star artist being late for her very first gallery exhibit, can we?" Seto whispers breathily in her ear, after a slight nibble.

Serenity felt dizzy and light headed, happy and carefree as the birdies in the beautiful, clear sky above, as Seto practically has to drag her into his Rolls Royce, skipping and singing and humming, so innocent, free and pure as she was.

_You sure do have the right name..._

He thinks to himself of the "serenity" she brought to his oft-troubled soul. Kaiba turns on the ignition key and pulls out, stepping on the gas to assure that they indeed did arrive at the opening on time.

After all, he had a hand or two (or a hundred thousand) in getting Serenity's "Wild Hearts" flower painting to be exhibited specially at this elite gathering.

_What else is money for anyway? _

Only with her did frivolous thoughts such as these ever occur.

"I thought Serenity's young man might've upped and left by the time our daydreaming little princess got back to reality." Mr. Wheeler smiles, once again a good, loving father to his wife and children. He had actually been fully dressed in his two sizes too small suit all morning, but that excuse was the ploy Mrs. Wheeler had ingeniusly come up with to give their growing-up little girl some quality time with the boy she was obviously in love with.

"No, not that one. He loves her, just as she is---reality or daydream. A mother can always tell these things." Mrs. Wheeler straightens her newly reconciled husband's tie, before turning to the mirror and going back to primping on herself.

_A mother always knows..._


	7. Chapter 7

We do not own "Yu-Gi-Oh!" nor any characters.

**Chapter 7**

The scene at the Art Exhibit was nothing less than chaotic, mainly due to the fact that several dozen children from an elementary school were there making the usual ruckus that young children do when they're set loose on an unknowing public.

Add them to the already growing crowd of onlookers who came to see a certain flowery portrait, simply because they were both instructed and paid to do so.

Then, of course, there were the art critics, people who made a living criticizing things others worked so intensely upon, just to have these types thumb their nose up or down at them.

And, at an art exhibit such as thing, concerning rising new talents, the critics had a field day. They stuck their sophisticated noses up in the air at the unknowns and turned their thumbs down as well.

Ah, well, another day in the life on the art scene.

"Hello? Pardon me! Make way! The children can't see the paintings can't see the portraits if you're big, fat tush is in the way, Mister! Show a little consideration! Sheesh!"

One such blonde haired, frecked girl states her case to a particular man who was studying a painting critically. His brow furrowed at the annoying girl's ill-mannered attitude as he turns his body to loom over her slight one.

"Children from the school, yes, ahem." The man clears his throat, his nose firmly up in the air by now. "Well, my dear, students such as yourselves take second place to a famous art critic such as myself. You and your troupe will just have to go and look at other things. Make yourselves nuisances to someone else. Where IS your teacher? I am a very busy man." The art critic turns back to the painting with a huff.

"Hey, pal! You've got no more right to examine this painting than we have! Every one of these children have paid for tickets to appreciate seeing this art and not your bulging butt, got it!"

"Insolent child! Where is that teacher! I'll be sure to get you a reprimand, if not worse." The critic's red face almost explodes in anger at the pipsqueak insulting him from her lowly place down there.

Looking around for the teacher in charge, the critic fails to notice the girl he's been sparring with dig into her purse and pull something out.

"Here's my ID, if you don't recognize MY famous face! I'M the instructor here, escorting these children to what is supposed to be a civilized gathering. Ms. Rebecca Hawkins, PhD, BA --- I've got more degrees than your weight scale at home! So move your big, fat butt already!"

Rebecca turns on her irrepressible charm. She knew what she wanted and verbally knew how to get it. The critic was in shock at this annoying little fly's impressive credentials without a single other word.

Rebecca, ahem, Ms. Hawkins, places both hands on her hips, to the roaring cheers and claps from her adoring class of students. None were too much smaller than her petite genius height.

"Way to go, Rebecca! That'll teach these over inflated egos what art's really about!" A familiar voice comes from behind. Rebecca's heart catches in her throat when she recognizes who it belonged to and what other voice almost certainly was to accompany it.

"Tea! Yugi! What brings you two here today?" Rebecca tries to make small talk, as her beet red face from pure, unadulterated anger seconds ago, turns even beet redder at the pair of haunting purple eyes staring back into hers.

_Crushes are soooo hard to get over! Get a grip, Rebecca!_

"Well, Joey's sister, Serenity, is a fine artist. One of her works is going to be featured here today." Yugi Motou's deepening voice was a change since last Rebecca had seen her secret heartthrob. His taller, more matured body was towering over her now as she looked up at him in awe.

_He looks more like that...Pharaoh...every time I see him..._

Tea can't help but notice Rebecca noticing Yugi. The little twinge of jealousy that used to flare up whenever adoring little Rebecca was around now felt something more like a warm feeling of pride.

Tea and Yugi's relationship had matured, just as they did. Tea was pleased to know that she needn't be envious of any girl stealing away her faithful Yugi's attentions ever again.

Of course, steering him away from Rebecca couldn't be all that bad an idea either for Rebecca was growing up, too.

"It's Serenity's first exhibit and we rallied all the gang to come along and cheer her on. Joey's at work now, but he swore he'd come later. Oh, Yugi! I think Serenity's party is over there in THAT directon. Bye now, Rebecca." Tea calls over her shoulder as Yugi smiles at her arm tucked firmly within his as she drags him along. Yugi merely shrugs his apologies to Rebecca as they leave.

"Where is she, man? Even a Wheeler wouldn't be as dumb enough to be late to their own unveiling!" Tristan Taylor's continually frustrated voice states emphatically. The bunch of roses in his hand were starting to prick thorns in his clenched palms.

"She wouldn't miss this for the world, Tristan. I'm sure that Kaiba picked her up---"

That name was all Yugi had to say to unrequited lover Tristan. The dark hair young man's face darkens at the mere mention of the name as Yugi and Tea walks up to him.

"What's Rich Boy got that I don't, anyway? Look at me! I'm the coolest guy!" Tristan cries out his anguish to two of his best friends. Yugi felt pity for his heartwrenched, after years of pining, friend, just to have Serenity scooped away from him to someone he could never possibly compete with.

Tea, on the other hand, rolls her eyes.

_Get a life, Tristan!_

"Well, let's see," Tea mischievously answers Tristan's non-question. She puts her chin up in the air as her fingers start ticking off. "First and foremost, he's got the kind of money---that you don't. Two, he's got the kind of sexy, long legged looks---that you don't. Three, he's got the kind of cars and lifestyles---that you don't. Four, he's got the kind of gorgeous fashion sense and style--that you don't. And five, he's got the kind of stunning eyes and husky voice a girl could really-----" Tea puts on a dreamy expression.

"Enough already about Kaiba! Sheesh! I'm every bit as good as he is! Even if I don't have the money, the looks, the cars or the good clothes! Hey! I have that kind of eyes, too, Tea! See! I'll save Serenity from that jerk!" Tristan's eyes bulge out as he walks away backwards, smacking his angry, frustrated rose bouquet against the side with every word spat back at his ridiculer, losing petals along the way.

"Does he really have those kinds of eyes and that kind of voice, Tea?" Yugi's up to now silent voice asks, something dark in it.

"Tristan! No way! He and Kaiba are as different as night and da----Oh! Hey, Yugi? Are you, by any chance, jealous?" Tea cuts short her rant when she notices the furrowed brow look her Yugi was giving her words.

"Jealous? Me? Of Kaiba? Of course not, Tea. Why would I be envious of that man? Just because you seem to describe his good features in such emphatic detail. What reason would that be for me to be...jealous?" Yugi uncharacteristically stutters and stammers over his deep throated words.

"You ARE jealous! This is so great!" Tea giggles and coos as she slips her arm back into his. It was so much fun to be a teenager in love, although Yugi gives her gleeful attitude a cocked eyebrow and an equally crooked frown.

"Those are Serenity's sentiments, you big lug! Okay, I revised a few lines here and there. Rich for sweet, stunning for beautiful, car for kindness---girl talk and all!" Tea explains guiltily to her boyfriend.

"And what about the sexy, long legs, Tea? Did Serenity come up with that all by herself?" Yugi asks with an accusing raised brow.

"Ummmm...Yeah, I think she did." With a half lipped smile, Tea shrugs honestly as far as she could remember that particular sleep over conversation. After all, Serenity was sweet and innocent but she was not as dumb as people thought.

"All right." Yugi was chuckling by now. Tea had masterfully quelled his jealousy as the couple continued to stroll, arm in arm again, towards where the largest roped in exhibit was waiting to be unveiled to the world.

"Pardon me, Ma'am, I'm terribly sorry to intrude on your most informative lecture, but I thought I caught a glimpse of some of my friends conversing with you. I've been going balmy in search of anyone I know here, to explain all of this beautiful art. I believe I'm a bit of an imbecile when it comes to the nomenclature of the fine art impressionists without the benefit of their instruction." His sweet English accent accompanied by his sweet face, was enough to get Rebecca's attention off the next painting she was about to lecture the finer points to her students upon. She adjusts her glasses to focus on the young man speaking to her in dulcet, accented tones more clearly.

His hair was an off silver lavender, spikes descending just belong shoulder length. His eyes were the most adorably warm shade of chocolate brown, making him positively delicious for any girl with a sweet tooth.

And Rebecca was one such girl, who secretly craved chocolate, almost to the point of frenzy.

"Oh..." Rebecca states, trying to catch the breath in her throat that rarely left it speechless. Turning away from his chocolatey stare, she addresses her students in an attempt to escape the moment. "Children, the next art piece we are studying is right across there. I trust you all, but do be careful not to touch the handmade illustrated pottery as you write up your short reports." Rebecca instructs those in her charge as the dozen children walk over to where a pretty vase was placed on a column for exhibition.

"Now, you were saying?" Rebecca turns back to the lavender haired gentleman who patiently was awaiting her response. She removes her glasses, doing so almost unconsciously.

"Oh, I say..." He pauses in his words, big chocolate eyes melting at her. "Do forgive me, once again, Madam. I haven't even paid you the proper courtesy of introducing myself. How very rude of me. My name is Ryou---Ryou Bakura. And you are?" He asks, extending his hand out to her politely.

"Oh, it's Rebecca...Rebecca Hawkins..." She stutters out, sticking out her hand rather clumsily to shake his gracefully proffered one. Ryou brushes his lips gently across the back of her palm, in true gentlemanly style.

_Wow..._

Rebecca mouths in awe of this sweetly, well-mannered young man who was paying attention to her. She giggles girlishly, so unlike her usual tough, little firebrand demeanor.

"And...I'm pleased to meet you too, Ryou. Do call me 'Rebecca'." She adds in a fluster.

"Ah, Rebecca, such a lovely name." Bakura compliments. He brown eyes were so charming that Rebecca was blushing furiously by now.

"Now...you said you saw me speaking to your friends...Oh! You must mean Yugi and Tea, right?" Rebecca says helpfully, one eye on her children and the other scanning the room for the couple.

"Yes, Miss Hawkins...Tea and Yugi." Bakura's eyes seem to dance at her.

Feeling a sudden change in demeanor at the mention of that pair, Rebecca decides right then and there to take matters into her own most capable hands.

"Look, I don't know where those two disappeared to, but if you're willing to stick around with me and my class, I'll explain these art works for you. That is, I mean, if you want to...that is..." Rebecca remembers herself, uncharacteristically shy.

"Oh, yes! Good show. If I'm not being too much of a burden..." Ryou trails off politely.

"No, of course not! You're British, right?" He nods. "My students will love talking to you! We've just been studying English history's role on art, so I'm sure they'd love to speak with you. English voices are so nice to hear!" Rebecca slaps her hand over her over-running mouth. Ryou chuckles at her complimentary slip-up.

"Then I put myself in your capable hands, Madame Teacher." He says to her blinking eyes as he follows her back to the students in his cute blue and white striped shirt.

_Wow! Is this cutie psychic or what? Not to mention sweet and kind and gentlemanly! Now, all I've got to do is keep that Tea's nasty claws off him! He even treats me like an adult...'Madame Teacher'...'Miss Hawkins'...hee hee... sigh ...Mitts off, Tea! This one's MINE!_

Rebecca's mind was elsewhere as she and her students continue on this study. Ryou was a new friend they all took to, right off.

"Right then! Greetings, children!" Bakura seemed at home with children already.


	8. Chapter 8

We do not own "Yu-Gi-Oh!" nor any characters.

**Chapter 8**

"Now, ladies and gentlemen, may I have your attention?" The neatly dressed museum curator waves his arms around. His bellowing voice tried to give this auspicious occasion all the hoopla as he could. After all, the museum's new number one patron of the arts ought to get his money's worth ahem ----all the credit a beautiful piece of artwork such as this deserved.

Yes, there was something prettily simplistic in this particular artwork's design. That is what he thought when Seto Kaiba himself personally presented this painting to him. But as the curator was happily unaware of then, he was not sure what a multibillion dollar businessman had to do with this common view of oceans in the distance, violet flowers growing in the sands of a beach, side by side in the sunset. One had risen to full blossom in the shape reminiscent of a heart, all quite artfully done. It was as if the delicate blossomed flower was leaning towards the tall, stronger one, as if coaxing it to unfold its petals and reveal what was inside its heart.

A touching sentiment--obviously the girl who painted it was in love. Though it was hardly worth the amount of monetary funds a certain wealthy young man forked over to them to have it displayed in the museum.

_Unless of course, this little artist is love with YOU, Mr. Seto Kaiba. Then, of course, it would be worth every thousand, if you loved her in return..._

And it was obvious from the look that Seto Kaiba was giving the girl, that he was.

_Ahh, young love..._

The curator sighs dreamily as he begins his lofty speech.

"Today we have a special treat for all of you sentimental patrons---the delicate lines filled with the beauty that flowers share with our world. The skillful strokes here are filled with light and aura of the sunset that always deserve a soulful glance behind this treasure is introduction enough for itself, for its beautiful design. Please stand in awe and feel the greater depth captured by the next great talent on the art scene, in her latest work, so suitably entitled 'Wild Heart.' Moving, isn't it?"

As the unveiling begins, the curator moves over to Serenity's painting, then stands aside. His eyes meet Kaiba's with a grateful bow as he motions at the trembling girl standing beside the businessman.

"So may I present the lovely work of art herself, Miss Serenity Wheeler---the most promising new talent in all of art. A few words, Miss, to your adoring crowd."

Serenity is shocked to have so much attention thrown her way. She blushes as her quiet, gentle spirit recoils from the dozens of pairs of eyes upon her. They were waiting expectantly for her to give a speech. Timidly, she takes a step forward, then back again, then forward again. She grasps her Seto's cool, calm hand with sweaty palms, pulling him back and forth along with her--for support it seemed.

"I just...want to say..." Serenity's scared-like-a-deer-in-the-headlights-eyes glance anxiously from one face to the next. She was frightened of strangers, cameras, and lights, but her fear ebbs for the moment when her eyes catch sight of all her dear, dear friends standing before her in the crowd. They were wishing her luck to go on. Tea, Yugi, Tristan, Duke, Rebecca, Ryou...Mai,...JOEY!

Serenity feels the urge to shriek in delight at her big brother's name, as behind everyone's heads a striking blonde woman in a purple mini skirt literally kicks in the art museum's door. She was dragging a darker blonde boy in with her, by his ear.

"Sorry we're late, Serenity! It may have taken a few extra flirtatious winks at the other waiters from yours truly, but Joey wouldn't miss this for the world. It's your moment, Serenity. Take it away, pretty girl!" Mai Valentine cares not for the gasps of sensitive souls at her her loud outcry of support over their stuffy heads as she winks at the girl in the spotlight.

"I'm wit ya, Sis!" Joey finally stands on his own, rubbing his red ear as he gives his parents (and their running camcorder) a crooked smile, and to Serenity, his trademark 'thumbs up.'

"Joey! Mai! Thank you!" Serenity's timid voice calls out now, too, strong and true. She felt the confidence now of having EVERYONE she loved there with her.

"I just want to say 'thank you' to everyone who has supported me. Especially my family and friends who are always there for me, and gave their all for me to get better. You see, I was a blind person who was given the chance to see the world again, in all its beauty. And when I opened my eyes, it was the same world that I remembered as a child. No, I'm wrong," Serenity turns from her confident speech to the man watching with pride beside her. "It's even more beautiful now!" Serenity cries out with such enthusiasm and sweet passion that even the hardened crowd can't help but say 'awwwww' at how daintily pretty the young lady/artist completes the tableau by throwing her trembling arms around her inspiration.

Seto Kaiba was her soulmate and gave her the strength to face everything and accomplish impossible dreams.

"Thank you, Seto. I know you did this all for me...I love you..." She whispers in his chest as grateful, happy tears fall and seem to seep through to his once cold heart.

Kaiba smiles, letting the embrace linger uncharacteristically. He felt her emotion for him. Her warmth was dizzying until a bolt of electricity suddenly sizzles through his mind, heart---every sense of awareness--before he could respond back to her.

"How touching! Such a tender scene always brings a tear to my ahem EYE..." A distinguished voice stands out amidst the crowd. The slight inflection of a chuckling laugh was forever evident in that very tone so familiar to Seto Kaiba. He recognized it without even turning to face the latest visitor to the exhibition. So familiar and so detested...

"Pegasus..." Kaiba growls low, for reasons even beyond his comprehension, he despised this particular man so much.

_After all this jerk put Mokuba and I through? Even if they all blame it on that Egyptian hocus-pocus Millennium Item mind-possession stuff-----and THAT I still don't buy into one hundred percent, okay...Maximillion Pegasus is still jerk supreme number one in my book. I can't stand it when he even just smiles like that. I know there's all sorts of mechanations behind that smirk._

"It's so nice to be remembered, Kaiba boy. It warms the cockles of one's soul." Pegasus brushes his silvery locks with one hand, while the other was over his heart dramatically, as he smarmily drips his sing-song voice directed at the storm-cloud mad young man before them.

"Yeah, I bet." Kaiba mutters, so no reporters could hear. He just managed to stop his ill-tempered mouth from giving Maximillion Pegasus his just desserts for showing up to wreck Kaiba's otherwise perfectly planned day.

Seto looks at the innocent girl blinking up at him from his side sweetly and he decides to let the egotistical scumbag off the hook for her sake----for the moment, anyway, as hungry news monger reporters flash the scene of the two multibillion dollar gaming giants.

"I must say that you DO have excellent taste." Pegasus though, doesn't miss a beat. His eye that had been searing into Kaiba's skull it seemed, finally dragged itself away from the boy in question to his companion. And such a sight indeed!

_Breathtaking, isn't she? Good taste in women, my boy...We share that as well, it appears..._

Seto's growl begins to grow despite his efforts into a light roar at the older man's flirtatious attention to the trembling beauty at his side.

"This stunning painting, I mean." Pegasus motions to the art on the wall, with a smirk in Kaiba's direction. "It's more a portrait of yourself, is it not, my dear? And there's so much captured here! Love blossoming under DIRE circumstances, through impossible odds! It surpassing all obstacles as its radiant beauty breaks through the sands as one tender lover reaches out to the other's once closed bud of a heart--now slowly blossoming as well in response of his own soul through hers...Ahh, the romance, the sentiment! Brings a tear to my eye." Pegasus sniffles as he wipes the 'tear.' "You, my dear, truly are an artist in the most supreme sense, to be able to express so much emotion in a single portrait. Indeed, it is a rare gift. And I, an old and fading painter myself, must bow before you in awestruck admiration. Bravo, Miss Serenity Wheeler. Bravo, indeed, 'Wild Hearts.'"

Pegasus looks into Serenity's sparkling clear eyes. His mind congratulated her for accomplishing so much more than a heartfelt work of art. His eye traveled to see the way Kaiba was gazing at his sweetheart.

_Even through the unveiled aggression still aimed at yours truly. A great accomplishment, my girl, that only angels dare tread upon but once in a lifetime..._

Pegasus lifts his hands in applause after he bows before her, hand dramatically still on his chest. The kudos of a well-famed artist such as himself caused the rest of the high-brow crowd to join in his clapping.

Serenity gets her second standing ovation as a result and this time, even the critics were heartfelt in it. After all, if Maximillion Pegasus had such a high opinion of this simple, little painting----

Why shouldn't they?

"In fact, I am so inspired that I would be MOST honored if you were the first to view, and give your opinion, to my own small contribution to this exhibit. That is, if it wouldn't be too much to ask. I would value your opinion so." Pegasus lowers his eye in a gentlemanly, reverential bow before Serenity's blushing, surprised face.

"Me? Oh, dear! Oh! Of...of course, I'd love to! Mr...Sir!" Serenity doesn't even know how to address the imposing figure of a man she had never actually met before. She had only heard about his great artwork in her own artistic endeavors, for years now.

_Seto seems to know him, too. So he shouldn't mind if I accept..._

_Pegasus! What are you up to? This is between you and me. Just leave her out of this._

"Oh, oodles of joy! Do follow me to my private exhibit hall, my dear Serenity. I am so grateful to have a TRUE professional's second opinion who understands what hearts and souls are, before I release my portrait to the public. Sorry! No highly respected busy-bodying reporters allowed in just yet!" Excitedly, Pegasus' warning, vascillating hand waves off the horde of reporters beginning to traipse after his arm around Serenity as they walk away.

"But YOU are coming, are you not, Kaiba boy?" Pegasus looks innocently. His one eyes blinks at Kaiba with the question. Kaiba growls deeply as his only response. He follows the artsy pair down the darkened hall...


	9. Chapter 9

We do not own "Yu-Gi-Oh!" nor any characters.

**Chapter 9**

"So, you were really, truly stranded on a tropical island with this delicate vision of beauty---ALONE---for eighteen whole entire days? I tip my hat to you and your good luck, Kaiba-boy! That is, if I was wearing one---oh, how silly of me!" Talking incessantly all the way down the hall to the girl on his arm, Pegasus giggles at Serenity's slight, radiant blush at his insinuations, as she explains to his query on how Seto was fortunate enough to scoop up such a delicious 'sprite' as Pegasus now called her.

"If I really had good luck, we wouldn't be dragged around by you, you insane asylum escapee." Kaiba breathes under his growl that hadn't ceased since Pegasus started this whole stupid escapade.

"I heard that, my young protege!" Pegasus sings out happily over his shoulder, wagging a finger in Kaiba's face as he pauses them at the double-doored entrance.

"I am nothing of the kind to you!" Kaiba practically shouts. His anger at the older man was seething to its limits.

"Seto, shhhh. Be nice." Serenity tugs on her boyfriend's long, white suit jacket sleeve. She quelled his anger with big, pleading eyes.

"Yes, Seto, do be nice." Pegasus seemed to be begging for a tongue lashing, but Kaiba calms himself in the refuge of Serenity's soft eyes.

_Okay, old man, I'll play it your way for the time being. Hmph._

Kaiba simply rolls his eyes as he obediently follows the pair of artists into the darkened room. He didn't trust Maximillion Pegasus as far as he could throw him, however, for Serenity's sake, he'd just have to keep the peace.

"Peace, yes..." Pegasus repeats Seto's sentiments out loud, causing Kaiba to wonder if the crazy man still had a claim on his psychic abilities.

That thought was only intensified by Pegasus' reverential bow and kneeled prayer of some sort before a covered-by-curtain painting on the far wall. There was a strange sense of eerie silence that fills the large room and Pegasus had closed the doors purposely behind them.

Serenity begins to shiver in the cool darkness as the mysterious man with the silvery hair begins to light several candles placed strategically on statuesque marble pillars around the exhibit.

"What is this, Pegasus? More of your theatre dramatics?" Kaiba growls again, sensing Serenity's distress as she slips her frightened hand into his in the ghostly silent darkness.

"It is only the stage upon which the drama of my life was played." Pegasus enigmatically whispers to them through the darkness. "And so, perhaps, where YOUR drama began..." He adds, with a slight emotional choke, as his hands pull the ropes to draw the curtains surrounding his most cherished masterpiece and life-inspired work to reveal it for the first time, to the only audience it was meant for by his darling Cecelia...

"...My son."

Maximillion Pegasus announces to the world for the first time the existence of his only child---the little baby boy he had sent away in a fit of rage at losing his adored wife. The child who the nursemaid had taken to live with her and become a part of her own family that Pegasus had just traced. That adopted family had also been cruelly stolen from the boy by fire, not long after the nurse and her husband's real son was born. The two orphans were sent to an orphanage where fate and skill had guided the older boy to have them both be adopted by a rich man named Gozaburo Kaiba.

Maximillion was both shocked and awestruck by the fact, up till now, that destiny had kept him unaware of his son's existence, though their paths had crossed many times before...

_Cecelia, forgive me..._

"May I present my wife, Cecelia, and my newborn son. Do tell me what you think of it." The words coming from Pegasus' lips weren't half as impressive as the breathtaking portrait hanging on the wall. Serenity gasps at the sheer beauty in every detail of line there was---every shade, every strand, of the woman's hair was done with such painstaking precision and care, that, to Serenity's artful eye, it could only be a portrait of a true heart's love for another.

"...She's so...beautiful..." Serenity whispers through the inexplicable tears in her eyes. The painting evoked so much emotion, that Serenity couldn't hold back the tears.

It was of a woman so beautiful, so young and radiant, with long golden hair set in golden waves that cascaded around her pale shoulders. Her even paler face was both lovely yet tired, worn out at the same time it was blissful. But above all, on every feature, was love for the newborn child in her arms---a strikingly blue-eyed baby boy, who shared some quality of her indefinable grace.

The tears rolling down from the woman's eyes were so lifelike as they fall across the tiny baby's small cheek and onto the hand of the shadowy figure of a man at her bedside. His own tears, too, were spilt on the babe--awash in both his parents' tears.

For above the woman's head was a blinding, holy light---that to a sensitive soul, meant only one thing---as she held her baby, for the last time, it was also the first...

"She's...dying...isn't she...?" Compassionate Serenity was too enraptured by the beautiful painting to notice the way her Seto was staring at the picture with a curiosity he rarely gave art and other frivolous things that a businessman such as himself wouldn't deem to give a second or two of attention more.

But there was something about the woman pictured---something about the glow of her cheeks, the radiance in her eyes above her baby, even as her spirit was leaving her body. The drops of tears spilled in both joy and regret of a future lost were intermixed on the child's forehead.

"Eighteen years ago, I lost her. I lost the other half of my soul. And like a fool, I allowed my remaining half to slip away too, on that awful night. I was relinquished to despair and hatred, I lashed out...and sent my son away---so embittered and angered I was---a mere boy myself." Pegasus stutters at the replay of the moment in his heart as he explains to them.

"I had shut myself away in my own world of torment and regret. Searching, seeking out the unreachable, when all the while I could've had the piece of her that she had left me in order to live on. My son, I have finally tracked you down. Through fires, through orphanage after orphanage---one disaster after another---and at last to break through the barrier of my own disbelief. Somehow, I should've already realized it when I was the creator, and you, the champion---that you had my blood running through your veins, and my Cecelia's as well. Our lost child---lost no longer! That baby in the painting is my son; a man destined for greatness. In other words, you, Seto Kaiba."

Pegasus' hand falls upon Kaiba's shoulder. Kaiba's shocked eyes look first at the hand and then at the man who held it with a stunned contempt. He shakes off the palm as if it was a leper's and backs away from his silver haired rival in utter shock at the man's words.

"I---You---It can't be!" Kaiba yells in denial. "What game are you trying to play now, Pegasus!" He shouts in confusion, letting go of Serenity's hand as he backs away towards the door.

_HIS son! No way! This nutcase is...my father! My real father! Absolutely not!_

Seto Kaiba, a man who usually exuded confidence in everything, is, for the first time, completely unsure of anything. Serenity's eyes open wide at him, reflecting his surprise.

"Where did those rich jerks run off to wit my little sista? Geez! There's gotta be a zillion cobwebbed filled rooms in dis creepy ol' peoples mausoleum." Joey Wheeler angrily slams his coffee filled foam cup onto the museum's lunch counter. Its tepid liquid squirted from the cracks his force created in the weak styrofoam.

"Joey! Chill out, man! Awww, sheesh! Just look at my new shirt? This is just NOT my day!" Tristan once again skulks away in defeat, rubbing napkins on the big coffee stain on his new, white button up shirt as people around start chuckling at him and his misfortune.

"Sorry, pal! Accident!" Joey calls out after his friend. He, from working as a waiter at the restaurant, having to claim 'accident' almost on a daily basis. Good thing Mai was always there to calm the irate manager down with her soothing words and winsome ways, succeeding in keeping newcomer Wheeler in employment for spills yet to come.

It wasn't that Joey was exactly clumsy---not exactly---but he tried too hard. Mai always watched from her bar how the blonde boy would juggle holding too many orders at once, trying to please everyone. Plates clanked, overfilled glasses toppled, as they dripped across the floor in his haste to get them to their tables in one piece as fast as possible.

_The big lug's got too much of a heart to be in this biz._

Mai often contemplated as she watched Joey sneak a free cupcake or extra refill here and there, to a little kid who already didn't have enough money to pay for the meal that Joey often footed from his own pocket.

_He's got a real soft spot for kids---he'll make a great 'daddy' for someone some day..._

Mai smiles a little too knowingly at Joey as Tea motherly tries to clean him and his mess up.

_Boys are so trying! _

Yugi soon comes to Tea's aid. "They'll turn up, Joey. Don't worry so much all the time. Pegasus isn't THAT bad, anymore now that his Millennium Eye is gone." Tea says in frustration as she gathers up the mass of napkins the clean up job resulted in.

"Yes, and since Kaiba's with your sister, she'll be safe." Yugi adds absently as he brings Joey a new coffee.

"Safe! Wit him? You gone nuts or sometin, Yug! Aww, man!" Joey and his styrofoam cup explode once again as both Mai and Tea sigh loudly in frustration as they begin the clean up they had just finished, yet again.

"Listen, Joey, as much as you don't care for him, Kaiba's really in love with Serenity. And I believe she feels the same way about him---from all of Tea's reports." Yugi gives his own love a look. Tea smirks back at him in the knowing, familiar way that said there were no secrets between them.

"Do ya gotta go and drag 'love' into it, Yug? I just had lunch." Joey, the tough guy, often feigned puking when it came to girly talk about that certain dicey word---LOVE.

"SOME of us don't mind the word being dragged out here and there, every now and then, if you catch my drift, you unromantic baboon." Mai strikes out, having this macho "eww" kind of guy getting on her nerves.

"Huh?" Joey, as usual, was totally clueless. He scratches his head as Mai storms out of the cafeteria where they had stopped by for a breather from the 'Serenity hunt.'

Shrugging their shoulders, Yugi and Tea soon follow. Joey races to catch up so, that he almost runs over some poor little kid who was running ahead of his classmates into the lunch room against his teacher's explicit instructions to stay together with the rest.

Good thing a pair of hands were there to scoop the boy up out of Wheeler's path of destruction just in the nick of time.

"Oops! Nice save, Bakura! Sorry, Kid!" Joey calls back as he bounds after the gang.

"Oh! There they go! I do believe I've missed them yet again." Ryou comments as he sits the little boy down on the lunch bench.

"Oh, well! That's their tough luck! We like having you around, don't we, children?" Rebecca eggs her students to back up her sentiments, to which they all wisely agree.

"Glad to oblige, ma'am." Ryou smiles back, tipping the kid's baseball cap down affectionately.


	10. Chapter 10

We do not own "Yu-Gi-Oh!" nor any characters.

**Chapter 10**

"I'm always the brunt of everyone's joke! Always being laughed at! Geez, doesn't coffee ever come off?"

_Scrub, scrub!_

Clean freak Tristan Taylor could not have a stain on his shirt in public. He had gone straight to the men's room and doused his brand new, silk shirt in hot water, not to mention a generous helping of hand soap until bubbles were floating everywhere.

_They all treat me like a total nobody. First, Duke wrecks my flowers! Then, Mai and Tea with their female cracks and then Joey...sheesh! I just wanna float down this nice bubbly drain...Calgon, take me away..._

Tristan was not crying in the golden handled sink. It just looked that way to the newcomer who had somehow found HER way into the men's restroom as she was powdering her nose, en route, totally ignorant of where she was going until she looks up to spot the shirtless man standing in front of her, bubbles afloat everywhere around him.

"EEK! What are you doing in the women's rest room! And without a shirt, too!" The young woman lets her powder blue hair fall into her face powder in hysterical surprise as her makeup case falls to the floor in a clatter and the powder puffs up into smoke all around her.

_"Achoo!" "Achoo!" "Achoo!"_

"God bless! God bless! Gesundheit!"

Bubbles and powder dust fill the air as the pair race around the corner of the spacious rest room to the waiting area. Tristan turns to the woman to question what the heck she thought she was doing thinking that this was the women's rest room when the female removes her sunglasses, rubbing the dust and bubbles from her cloudy eyes.

"Miho! Miho Nosaka! It's you! Where've you been? When did you get back to Domino City!" Tristan excitedly asks the girl he had a crush on forever when they were first year students in the same high school, years ago.

"Tristan? Tristan Taylor! Oooh! How lucky! Miho was hoping to see you again!" Miho looks Tristan up and down. His fully grown manly height and equally manly form was on full display before and was more than a sight for sore eyes.

"I've just gotten back from my tour in America. I'm a fashion model and airline stewardness, and a rich collector of art and antiques and such things...Yes, I collect...expensive paintings. That's me! Rich socialite world travelling girl----that's me all over!"

Miho smiles big as her eyes scan the artistic bathroom frantically. Tristan got the idea that he was being snowed by this familiar pretty face.

"Really, Miho?" Tristan asks, with the concerned face of a true friend. He knew the blue haired girl better than that.

"No, Tristan...no...I'm not one of those things...Miho wanted to be, but I'm such an airhead that I keep getting fired! It's tough to be an airline stewardess and not get sick on passengers! And even tougher to be a fashion model when high heels trip me up everytime! Ohhhhhh! I'm such a failure in America! I had to come home, unemployed, penniless, unwanted and unloved by anyone! I'm a loner...A joke...Pooh Miho! Wahhhhhhhhhh!"

Miho lets her tears spill out all over Tristan. She clutched at him for moral support. He was the only friend she had left in the world it seemed.

"Aww, you poor kid. Don't you worry! Uncle Tristan will take care of everything from now on!" Tristan proudly states, patting her back in comfort as she weeps openly all over his chest.

"Really, Tristan? You'll really take care of Miho?" Her big, baby face and baby voice coo up at the boy expectantly.

"Yup! Count on the big cheese in town--Tristan Taylor--to steer you right, little lady!" Tristan, back to his old, over-confident, blustery self once again, puffs up, wiping away Miho's semi-crocodile tears.

"Tristan! You're the best!" Miho exclaims in her high pitched voice. She throws her arms bodily around Tristan's bare back, hugging him to tightly that he was losing breath rather quickly.

"Hey! Who left the water on in there! What a mess for me to clean up!" The custodian of the museum cries out as the water in the sink had been left on all the while.

Tristan jumps away from his blissful embrace when the shocked janitor appears around the corner to see the young couple in such close intimate proximity. Tristan turns his nose up at the old man haughtily and scoops up his now drenched silk shirt, wrings it out and pulls it back on. Miho giggles as he tugs her out the door along with him, both their shoes dripping wet.

"We're---uhhh---friends of Seto Kaiba, one of your finest patrons! Just put any damages on his tab!" Tristan calls back in guilt. Miho unabashedly laughs as they race away from the scene of the soggy crime, hand in hand. It seemed all Tristan needed was some other loser in need to lift his spirits.

" Ahem Ladies and gentleman, attention everyone! Attention! Now I want everyone to be calm. Everyone must remain calm--absolutely calm." The curator of the museum who had been so confident before in front of the audience calls for their attention beginning to stammer and stutter uncontrollably over his repetitive words.

"What is it, already? Spit it out, man." Joey impatiently asks. He was already beat from traipsing up and down the museum in search of his pretty little sister and the two high class weirdos who had taken off with her.

_Ya know, after it all, Kaiba and Pegasus remind me a lot of each other...They're both total egotistical, arrogant, high falutin jerk-offs and I want Serenity to stay away from both of 'em! Argh!_

"Well, young man, you see..." Sweat drips from the brow of the curator who was furiously scanning the doors and exits for some reason. "Ladies and gentlemen, you must remain calm----"

"Yeah, you already said dat!" Joey says in frustration.

"Ladies and gentlemen," the man continues on, ignoring Joey's comments, "we have received a bomb threat."

The gasps and shuddering of elderly and young alike reflect the gravity of the situation. The man was itching to make a clear getaway himself, but restrains from running to the nearest door. He had to be a leader and---

"Everyone, calmly now. Please make for the nearest exit. Everyone, that is, except for Mr. Seto Kaiba, please. Will you step forward, Mr. Kaiba?"

When no one responds, the curator clears his throat.

" ahem Alright, calmly, everyone head to the exits. No pushing or running, please. Just calmly walk, calmly..."

The man kept repeating the word 'calm' until he himself breaks out into a run and all hell broke lose with him. Screaming women and children, old people---all together make a dash for the several exit doors of the museum all at once.

"Now everyone, don't panic! We got dis covered! Single file, no pushi-----AHHHH!" Joey Wheeler 'wannabe-superhero/fireman' takes the initiative to direct traffic---and gets run over by the stampeding crowd instead.

"Joey!" Yugi and Tea both cry out as they see their best friend go down. But it was Mai who proved that love was not a word to be trodden upon this day. She elbows and kicks her way with her stiletto high heels through the horde of frenzied, panicked people until she reaches her Joey. She physically has to smack someone right in the face, before all three hundred pounds of the woman trample Joey.

Mai manages, in a moment of adrenaline strength, to pick up her downed lover and carry him to safety, away from the melee of human beings running for their lives.

"What's all the trouble here, man? Whoa! Rampage!" Duke comes out of the cafeteria, soda pop still in hand, when he heard all the commotion upstairs and decided to investigate.

"There's been a bomb threat, Duke! And people are panicking." Yugi explains in his deep throated voice the severity of the situation.

"Bomb threat! Ahhh! Miho's afraid of bombs! Ahhh!" Just then, a wet Tristan and his blue-haired companion walk up as well. Miho decides to faint away in Tristan's arms before HE could do likewise to someone else.

"I've got you, Miho, my darling! I'll save you!"

"So, I guess then, Joey's yours, Duke. Tristan seems to have his hands full this time." Mai comes up to the gang, huffing and puffing as she drags Joey's beat up body along and shoves him into Duke, whose face shows clear protest to the assumption.

_You've been eating too much at that fancy pants restaurant of yours, man! Oof!_

"Is he all right, Mai?" Tea looks her poor, heroic buddy up and down for any bad injuries.

"No irreparable damage to any vital organs, it seems. Of course, he's out cold, poor baby." Mai smoothes back Joey's messy hair, planting a kiss on his now bruised cheek to 'make it better.'

"Hmph, my hero..."

"Now, children! Single file---hold onto each other's hands, just like you were taught. Yes, that's right---Jennifer, Cindy, keep up in the back there! Oh, dear!" Rebecca, the school teacher, is perplexed. She didn't know if she should go to the rear of the line and pick up one of the two smallest girls who were slowing the group down or if she should continue on, leading the tearfully hysterical class out.

"I've got them, Miss Rebecca. You keep going." Ryou calls out from the back. He had easily scooped up the two crying children---one on piggyback, and the other safe in his arms.

"You're a good soul, Ryou! Thank you so much!" Rebecca felt like crying herself, but she was the teacher and adult here. So she must act it. "Come, children! We're adventurers, remember? One by one, no runs! Side by side, no one hides!" Rebecca starts chanting the school's 'safety first' song as she goes along.

"Isn't she super?" Ryou comments to Tea as he passes by them, the charges safely in his arms and around his neck as he joins the march down the stairs.

"We've gotta get out of this place before it all goes up in smoke. Come on, follow me, gang!" Duke starts to head for the exit behind them when Joey, in his arms, stirs to consciousness.

"Wait! Where's Serenity?" The brother protectively always thinks of his little sister, despite himself.

"I'm sure she got out already out a back exit. Let's go! I've got you, Miho!" Tristan says, carrying the whimpering girl down the exit steps.

"But---" Joey slips back to unconsciousness as Duke rushes down the stairs, Mai at their side.


	11. Chapter 11

We do not own "Yu-Gi-Oh!" nor any characters.

**Chapter 11**

"What's going on out there?"

Seto Kaiba's sensitive ears prick up. He was sure he had heard something out of the ordinary in the deathly quiet, empty halls. His eyes slit, scanning the darkened area.

"Oh, dear! Oh, my! There appears to be something interesting in the sky!" Pegasus appears at his side. He, too, surveys the hall. His perceptive one-eye catches sight of something that Seto's two did not at first.

"Must everything with you rhyme all the time?" Kaiba grumbles under his breath. His mind was racing as his insults his...father...

_Gotta get used to that...NOT..._

"Rhyme all the time? Ha ha! You did it yourself! Proving just HOW much you truly are my son! Oh, ubiquitous joy!"

"Just shut up already! Listen carefully, old man----you keep Serenity safe, you got that? And don't tell her where I've gone. She'll just get scared. And don't let her out of your sight for a minute. Can I trust you with that, at least?" Kaiba suddenly says. Every bristle of his hair stood up on end with danger signals----and it wasn't just Pegasus that was the cause of his unease all afternoon, after all said and done, as he catches sight of something moving behind them.

_They knew I had no bodyguards today. Tactical error. I didn't think you scum would strike in such a public area. I've got to make sure they'll never make the same mistake again._

Kaiba's long legs suddenly take him silently through the halls after he removes the constricting suit jacket, throwing it over Pegasus' face.

"I'll be back." He says as he gives a meaningful look of determination in his steely blue eyes as he disappears into the darkness.

"Seto? Where did Seto just go, Mr. Pegasus?" Serenity rushes to the doorway that the two were just at as Pegasus closes the double doors in again.

"Maximillion, my dear child! Do call me 'Maximillion.'" Pegasus interrupts her question purposefully, avoiding it.

"All right, Mr...eh...Maximillion, sir." Serenity stumbles over the older man's (Seto's real father!) words and smiling face at her. "Where did Seto go?" Serenity asks again.

"What's wrong, my dear? Don't you enjoy my company? Don't you like me?" Pegasus wheedles as he leads Serenity by her arm away from the door. His face in a plaintive frown turns into a smile as he queries her.

"Yes, I do. I do like you very much, sir." Serenity answers truthfully as she tries to get away from his grip, but to no avail.

"Mnnn, nnhh, no more 'sir'! 'Maximillion, Maximillion'!" Pegasus corrects her in his most annoying tone, wagging his finger.

"Yes, all right, Maximillion." Serenity repeats, not annoyed, just frustrated. "You're keeping me here because Seto told you to, didn't he?" She asks, looking him right in the eye.

"Weeelll..." Pegasus curls his lip, trying to decide whether to tell the young lady with the enchanting eyes the truth or not. "Ohhh! Let's play a game, shall we? To pass the time, lovely as it may be, eh?"

Serenity finally understands what Seto found so annoying in this silver-haired gentleman.

"We'll call it 'Truth or Truth!' What do you say?" He says excitedly. Pegasus was so into fun and games in his cracked mind.

"Don't you mean 'Truth or Lie'?" Serenity gently corrects.

"Oh, nooooo! I do DETEST lies, don't you, my sweet? Let's begin." He sets her down on a setee as he goes to the other one, facing her. "All right, I'll start first since I AM the creator of this little game. Contestant Number One---Miss Serenity Wheeler!" He dramatically flares his hand out towards her. "Are you madly, insanely in love with Seto Kaiba? Truth or Truth, my dear! You may only answer one! I'll give you five seconds to answer! Beep, beep, beep, ----"

"Truth! I am in love with him---so much." Serenity cries out unashamedly, without a second thought to propriety or etiquette. She giggles afterward at Pegasus' amused raised eyebrow at her rather enthusiastic response. "All right, now my turn to question you. Is Seto in danger right now? Truth or truth?" Her faces turns all serious.

"Truth, I'm afraid." Pegasus lowers his eye.

"Where has he gone!"

"EEP! Not a valid 'Truth or Truth' question! You are disqualified from the game! Doing, doing, doing! I win!" Pegasus starts humming a requiem to Serenity's rolling eyes and thrown up hands. When he gets up and moves to the door and opens it, Serenity's eyebrows knit in confusion.

"Come, my dear. Your confession of love triumphs over all orders I've received from my junior partner in THIS game. So let's go see if we can help him be heroic, shall we?" Pegasus offers Serenity his extended arm as she gratefully leans up and kisses his surprised cheek instead.

"What was that for?" Pegasus asks her.

"For giving me my Seto." She states, her eyes full of pure love as they both begin to run down the halls into the darkness after him...

"Is everyone out?" Yugi's calm voice rumbles lowly in the emptied out art museum.

"I've checked the entire kitchen, cafeteria, snack bar and both women's rest rooms---all clear." Tea reports, out of breath from running around.

"I've gone through every other room on this floor, and those on the next as well. But there seems to be a stairwell leading to a third storage room, just before the roof entrance. I'm going to go investigate there. Tea, I want you to do something for me first." Yugi stops his report to look the tall girl in the eye seriously.

"Anything." Tea answers her usual response to any and all of his wants. Her heartbeat races when Yugi takes hold of her hand in his and gives it a squeeze.

"Please go down and join the others outside before it's too late." Yugi says meaningfully, gazing into her eyes.

"No way am I leaving you here! Where ever we go, we go together! You got that, big shot? We're a team! Forever! You can't shake me THAT easily." Tea smiles after giving Yugi her most fearful glare of determination.

"No one would ever be foolish enough to shake you once they were in love with you." Yugi closes his eyes, pressing Tea's strong palm to his cheek, feeling her strength go straight through him.

"Let's go then, Tea." He calls out, as the pair race up the stairs towards the third floor, perhaps minutes, perhaps seconds, away from their own demise.

_But where ever we go, we go together..._

Tea feels invincible with her king at her side, hand in hand, as they skip steps upward into the unknown...

Ascending stealthily to the rooftop, a man in black is caught unaware by a man in white's sudden appearance with a gun, right in his face.

"Look, I won't even bother asking who your boss is, since you won't tell me. But this foiled plot should tell him to lay off me, loud and clear. Now, on your knees, creep. Hands behind your head." Seto Kaiba was all business. He dropped the guy's partner to the ground beside him, already tied, beat up and gagged.

Seto Kaiba was a dangerous man when you got him angry---with or without a weapon. And now, thanks to his victims, he had two semi-automatics at his willing disposal.

"You may have stopped my partner and me, but you won't be able to stop a bomb that you can't find! Ha ha!" This crook was more crooked than the last and Kaiba's eyes flare at his words.

"Then you'll just have to tell me where it is----or else!" Kaiba yells out, grabbing the masked man by his black spandex collar and shoving him bodily into the rooftop fence that was all that was standing between him and a hundred foot drop to the pavement below.

"Or else what? You'll throw me over the side, Rich boy? You think I'm really going to fall for that, silk shirt?" The man in black smirks wickedly beneath his mask.

"You want to try me? It's a cutthroat business world. I'm used to wrecking people's lives so I wouldn't think twice to rid the universe of scum like you. Besides, I've just been told I'm the son of a verified lunatic, and I'm feeling just like him today. Any final words, punk?" Kaiba's strong arms demand, pushing the man's teetering body to gravity's pull downward.

"Wait! You know, you're going to die, too, if I go over! The bomb's due any minute!" The man, despite all his words, panics.

"Everything I've got to live for is two floors down. How about you?" Kaiba presses the guy even further over the edge. The dizzying height makes the man shriek.

"KAIBA! We found the bomb!" Yugi Motou's voice was the last he expected to hear. But Kaiba was grateful, nonetheless.

"Oh, well, what a shame. I don't need you anymore." Kaiba's sadistically maddened eyes frighten the tootsie rolls out of the man as he pushes him over the edge, knocking his head cold against the brick building's ledge, flipping him and plopping the jerk firmly on the rooftop surface.

_Serenity would want me to do it this way..._

"Pardon me, I have a bomb to defuse." Speaking to the unconscious man, Seto Kaiba turns all businessman again, straightening his mussed tie as his strong arms drop him down to where Yugi and his little girlfriend where kneeling over a black box concealed in an air duct that Yugi's keen ears and heart had led him to...


	12. Chapter 12

We do not own "Yu-Gi-Oh!" nor any characters.

**Chapter 12**

"Yugi heard the bomb ticking while we were searching for anyone else trapped in here. I don't know how he heard it with all of that racket you were making, scaring the jellybeans out of that bad guy!" Tea updates Kaiba as she leads him over to the corner of the room where Yugi was kneeling over a rather sizable black box. He was looking a bit uneasy as he scans the wire and metal components, buttons and levers with consternation.

"Yeah, he's wonderful." Kaiba rolls his eyes at Tea's drooling words as he reaches Yugi's side, kneeling beside him.

"Not wonderful enough to figure this thing out, though." Yugi gives Kaiba a hopeful eye as he looks up from the black box.

"Fortunately for you, I AM that wonderful." Kaiba smirks, giving Yugi and Tea both a sideways corner-eye glance as he focuses his full attention on the large scale incendiary device before him. This wasn't just your everyday-run-of-the-mill bomb, either. No, this one would not have only taken down this museum, but the high-rise buildings next to it as well.

_Would've, could've..._

_SNIP!_

In one fluid motion, without a second thought of indecision, Seto Kaiba defuses not only the ticking bomb with Tea's nail clipper from her purse as his only tool, but also defusing any plans some nutcase had to get even with Kaiba Corp. today.

"Hmph. They thought I'd be vulnerable without my bodyguard entourage I sent with Mokuba's silly school trip today. Hah! Obviously, they don't know who they're dealing with."

Tea feels just about ready to smack their big-headed hero when she spots another moving object in the room, out of the corner of her eye. It was a shadow from above.

"Guys! Look out!" Tea screams as the downed man on the rooftop jumps down to their level, kicking the legs out from under her and punching Yugi hard in the gut, until both he and Tea are doubled over in pain.

Kaiba stands from where he was kneeling at the bomb when the guy draws a secret 9mm gun from his left-calf holster.

"I knew I should've tossed you off the roof before. See what a mistake kindness is?" Kaiba sighs his complaint aloud, though the perpetual smirk never left his lips.

"Then, I'll have to repay your 'kindness' with some of my own!" The bloodied head and bruised face brute of a man motions to his painful head with a sneer in Kaiba's direction. "Walk this way and no tricks, pretty boy."

The man points with his gun aimed at Kaiba to come towards him. Biding his time, Kaiba slowly walks forward, up the ladder.

"You first. Any funny stuff and I'll blow you away. I swear it!"

"Hmph." Kaiba grumbles as he does as told, climbing the ladder, just waiting for the chance to kick the armed man down. But the big brute never gave Seto's long legs the opportunity. He stayed a fair ways down until they get to the top when he sticks the barrel of the gun right in Kaiba's abdomen as warning.

"Keep your hands up where I can see them. That way, Mr. Kaiba, over to the edge. But don't worry, I'm not gonna push you off. Nah, I'm gonna smash your pretty face on the bricks first---just like you did to me. And then I'll push you off! Ha ha ha! Keep walking." He shoves the loaded gun even further into Kaiba as he prods him forward to the roof's edge.

"Look, you can tell your boss---and I know you have a boss. No one with the brains of a flea like you could've planned this whole fiasco himself." Seto Kaiba was never one to cower, even in the face of death. He disregarded the gun in his back as his biting mouth took swipes at his capturer.

"SHUT UP! Or--or--" The brute was losing his temper again as his already bloodied face turns even more shades of bloody reds.

"Or what? You'll shoot me? You've already expressed the desire to kill me so I no longer consider your lame lines a threat."

_Gotcha_

Kaiba plays the man like a fiddle as his rage grabs at the cool, collected customer and attempts a furious punch at the pretty face, just to shut up the owner of Kaiba Corporation permanently.

However, Seto Kaiba was one man who prided himself on his speed. (As well as his brains, his smarts, his infinite prowess---the list goes on and on...)

He takes the much larger man's blind anger at his insulting words to his advantage and turns it against him. Kaiba utilizes the force of his attacker's punch to catapult the man forward, only by chance, by luck, not sending the big brute over the edge, yet again.

"Why, you punk!" The man growls, getting up and leaping on Kaiba's thin, yet wiry frame. The two punch, kick and scrap until they're both exhausted and bloodied from the fight, and only one man comes out on top of these games.

"Say your prayers, Seto Kaiba." The would-be bomber picks up Kaiba's semi-conscious body and holds him teetering over the edge of the five-story rooftop...

A silvery head pokes up through the stairwell to the next floor above, scanning the area cautiously with a single, squinting eye.

_Why did I let her drag me into this? He'll be soooo angry if I allow something to happen to this girl! And...I'd have let him down...yet again..._

He was sure he was making a mistake with every step that they climbed.

"So, what do you see?" Serenity's impatient little voice rises to his uncertain ears, just as Maximillion Pegasus' eye sees something that could only spell trouble in any game.

"Oh, nothing...Nothing at all, my dear. Let's go back down and watch from the nice, safe street and share a cup of cocoa together, hmm?"

_Yet another fine mess you've gotten me into..._

The words of the old black and white movies he watches late at night to keep him company echo through his mind as Serenity Wheeler, unbelieving his toothy grin, pulls herself up on his arm, peering over his shoulder to see what he was trying to trick her into saying was not there.

"It's Tea and Yugi! They look hurt!" Serenity gasps as she jumps past Pegasus and runs to where her two downed friends were laying. "Tea! Yugi! Tea, wake up! What happened!" Serenity was in tears already. She shook her best friend's shoulders, trying to awaken the injured girl hysterically.

"Serenity..." Tea gasps for air as she sees the girl hovering over her.

"Ooooh, they're quite unconscious! Don't you think we'd better bring them down to get some medical assistance? Hmm? Dear? And...I could really go for a bite to eat. I do know a quaint little cafe that serves the loveliest tea..." Pegasus was wheedling, for every hair on the back of his neck was bristling with danger.

But Serenity ignores the quirky man's pleas to leave. Her focus was totally on Tea's hard fought for, gasped out words.

"Kaiba...defused...the...bomb." Tea's eyes travel to where a now lifeless black box was no longer bleeping and blinking impending doom. "But...there's a guy...with a gun...still trying...to...kill him..." Tea starts to drift back into unconsciousness.

"Where! Where, Tea! Where's my Seto!" Serenity screeches in a low whispered horror as she frantically shakes her friend, trying to keep her awake. Tea could only manage to point to the rooftop before she goes.

"No, child, wait!" Pegasus cries, making a lunge for her as Serenity races from his grip to the rooftop ladder and climbs, two steps at a time.

A sudden sound of kicking and scraping, men's muffled grunts and then finally, an ear-splitting and heart shattering, gunshot, rings in Serenity's heart just as she reaches the top of the ladder.

Her frenzied eyes were in time to catch sight of the most horrifying vision her young eyes had ever witnessed----

As the love of her life goes plunging over the side of the five-story building. His attacker had pulled Seto along with him in a final act of evil spite for the young hero who had somehow, amazingly, overpowered him.

But, he would make sure both were destined to die this day as the result of their pitted struggle...

"SETO!"

The unheard depths of a heart wrenched scream in his Serenity's sweet voice is the last thing Seto Kaiba hears as he falls helplessly over the edge towards the unforgiving ground below. His only peace was in knowing that he had stopped the bomb that would've taken her from him, though, at the cost of his own life, being taken away from her...

_Hmph, poetic justice, perhaps...To die the same way as Gozaburo...Falling to my death..._

Kaiba closes his eyes. Mokuba's cute face flashes through his mind and then, Serenity's beautiful one--- the only two people he ever loved in the world.

_...to feel at last, but before I could tell her how much I really...love her..._

"NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO! Seto!" His name on her lips, his handsome face in her mind's eye---the deep person Serenity Wheeler was loses her consciousness to her shattering heart at the very thought of losing him. She died inside at the moment of realization of her life to be spent without the man she loved so terribly, so intensely, so eternally---long before their love had even come into full bloom, as her fragile body shudders and faints...

But there was another heart within her soul that had felt the same bitter pain of loss---the same profound emotion of burning love unending that, up until this very moment, Serenity herself never knew the bond existed within her weak body. It was a part of her soul that has lain dormant, awaiting the moment her master, her love, would need her. It was a love story that had spanned countless millennia of time, unchanging, unending and undying...

_I can't lose you...I love you...My Seto...Please don't leave me, please! Please, God, save him!_

Time stops as the screams in her heart are silenced by a mysteriously strange and overpowering sensation of white light that suddenly explodes in a blinding aura of brilliance that Serenity had only experienced the like of in that first moment she opened her eyes from the near blindness that had left her alone in a world of darkness all that time ago.

"Who are you?" Serenity asks a silhouetted figure wrapped in chiffon and white light. Her long white hair flowed in brilliance around her.

"The question is---who are YOU, really? Are you strong enough not to leave him? Though you have not known it, I have been watching you all of this time. I have been waiting, a silent witness, to a destined, yet ill-fated love, hoping for you, in moments of a fearful heart, praying for your inner warmth to melt the cold facade around his, and through it all, wishing for your destinies, not to share ours----just as it mirrors our love...

"I---I don't understand! I just want to be with Seto, forever and ever! I couldn't, I couldn't go on without him! Please, if you know how I feel, if you have the power to help him---please!" Serenity begs, although confused and disoriented by the bright illumination surrounding her every sense, she had one desire---the strongest emotion she had ever expressed in her life, born in her immense love for him.

The prayer was for her Seto to live, for her to be able to save him somehow, before the most precious thing in her life was stolen away...

"I don't have the power any longer...I used it, long ago." Sadly, the woman enveloped in white light says as she studies the young girl with unyielding intensity in her hazel eyes.

"Look at me!" The woman's gentle voice commands. Serenity was startled by the ferocity as she gazes up at the ghostly, sweet figure draped in white streams afloat in the sky above her.

Serenity feels a strange surge of energy suddenly flow within her, as if a fierce light had been turned on within her very body. It exuded from her every pore---her fingertip glowed as she looks at them in awed shock.

"Now, you are the one who inherits it---the boundless power of love and light that is only destined to be yours and mine---and has always been that way. Just as the love for a single man---a love I also felt for the man I loved---goes beyond the limits of time, beyond the limits of human emotion. But I must warn you, nothing comes without a cost."

"I don't care what happens to me! Nothing matters except that I have to save Seto! I love him so much!" Serenity roars with assured deep feeling. Her soul leaves the boundaries of her weak, human body as she embraces the illuminated woman's outstretched hand in her mind, within the brilliant blinding light----

Without fear, without regret, only with love...

"Yes, I can see that love for him shining clear and true, right there in your blue eyes...Go now! Hurry and save your master, your love!" The woman's ethereal voice whispers, sings and commands, all at once. Serenity didn't notice the resemblance between them entirely as she is sent back to consciousness. The young girl felt so much stronger than she had ever felt in her entire life, filled with a raw, new energy as she opens her eyes as if her whole body had been transformed into that of a creature of pure power and...

Pure light with the supremely ultimate form created out of her pure love...

Maximillion Pegasus watches in horror as his son's--- ahem Seto Kaiba's young lady suddenly leaps from the spot she had obviously fainted down upon on the roof. Pegasus gasps at the realization of just where Serenity was racing----almost blindly---transfixed, it seemed, to the edge of the otherwise empty rooftop.

_Son! No! I've lost you again! Cecelia, forgive me!_

But Pegasus was too overcome. He falls to his knees in his own despair, not considering the distraught sweetheart until it was too late as his astonished, broken eye witnesses the girl racing to the edge and simply jumping off without a second thought or hesitation to herself.

_As if she had wings to fly...And...she does..._

Pegasus thinks he truly has gone mad in this moment of extreme heartbreak as he gets off his knees and runs to the edge, fully prepared for the horror of it all.

But instead, witnesses a scene, beyond belief indeed, as the tiny, little fragile girl he had spent the afternoon with, who had just grievingly leaped, transformed before his eye, into a familiar sight indeed.

One highly unexpected though, as her delicate arms flap out into wings of pure, shining white. The rest of her body transforms, growing in a flash of blinding light into glorious wings, spreading, with a magnificent tail waving and impressive body glowing into the most breathtaking dragon of blinding light and radiance----

"---Blue Eyes, White Dragon...!"

Pegasus breathes out in total astonishment as he watches in shock the white winged dragon that he believed he had created and Seto Kaiba had so much made his own and champion treasure, take wings of her own.

She swoops down beneath her master's fallen form, in a flash of speed and light, mid air, breaking his deadly fall, as gently, on her dragon's sleek back she carries him, gliding back up to the rooftop, with her own rescued prince and master safe. She lands in soft genteel innocence as her warm wings hold him closely against her chest. Blue Eyes, White Dragon hovers down, her love saved, and the dragon once more transforms back into the small frame of a human girl, still hugging the man she loved close in her arms, to her chest.

"...Serenity...?"

Seto Kaiba slowly stirs to consciousness, breathing her name as he breathes her scent in. The warmth that was only hers was close and tender, the small, svelte body that he had held in so many of his dreams, was the one in his arms---his Serenity...

_Blue Eyes...?_

Kaiba feels his senses reeling at the clipped glimpses he thought he had just seen. He looks down at the girl whose arms were tightly wrapped around him. His mind was cloudy and dizzy from the great fall as his head pounded. But all was right as long as Serenity was in his arms.

But she wasn't breathing.

"Serenity! Wake up! Serenity! What's happened to you!" Kaiba's own weakened body struggles to sit up, damning his own dizziness as he pulls Serenity's still form up from the ground to lean against his own still shaky chest.

"Serenity!" Kaiba cries out her name again. The thought of losing her made the ground crumble beneath him yet again as he clutches her frail body, desperately shaking her with as much gentleness as his feverish mind could muster.

"I won't let you die!" His mind screams this one sentiment, over and over.

Laying her body down again in a panic, Kaiba begins to give her mouth-to-mouth resuscitation, sharing what little breath his own body had to offer. He'd give it all---he'd give anything, if she would just breathe again!

Something obviously too strenuous for her to handle must've happened for her to collapse like this.

"Wait...I went over the ledge in the struggle with that punk. How did Serenity end up in my arms? She was SUPPOSED to be safe downstairs with----"

"Hmmm, mmhhh..." Serenity's lips tremble from the kiss of life's breath renewed that he had frantically instilled within her lifeless body. She gasps for air, coughing sporadically as she leans her head over to his hand, now resting relieved on her cheek. His emotions were spent entirely as he too gasps for air, with tears in his eyes as his mind spins from the trauma.

"Is she...Are you...?"

It would've been better for all concerned had the man's curiosity of their well-being not caused him to speak, just at this moment. Pegasus brushes the hair out of his eyes as he trots over to the pair in disbelief and joy.

"Pegasus..."

Lowly, in a strangely quiet, yet deafening voice, Kaiba growls at the person---no the scumbag---that he had stupidly left his most prized possession in the charge of. Kaiba hadn't imagined that even Pegasus could sink so low as to allow his sweet, innocent Serenity to get involved in all this danger.

"I TOLD YOU TO KEEP HER SAFE!" Kaiba sharply growls in his angriest voice ever. A pair of dagger like eyes slice straight at the older man's biting lip and pitiful face full of guilt.

Seto was about to lash at him once again, with even harsher words when a few soft ones break through.

"...Don't...Seto...shhhhh..." Serenity awakens to try to calm him down. She was so happy to have him alive that the only important thing to her was the feel of his heartbeat as she pulls his wrists, pounding close to her cheek. The feel of his heat and warmth was against her skin as she shushes her dried lips against his palm.

"Serenity!" If ever he was to cry for someone else, it would be now. Seto Kaiba felt overwhelmed, as leaning over her form, tears formed and falled from his once ice-cold blue eyes.

"...Don't be...angry with...your father...Seto..." Serenity finds it in her kind self to extend her other hand out to the stunned man kneeling not so far away. Pegasus scoots over on his knees to grasp her benevolent hand as she smiles genuinely at him with complete generosity.

"He saved...my life...today..." She whispers, weakly smiling up at Pegasus' questioning smile back.

"I did?" He says, with a nervous giggle as his eyes meet Kaiba's.

"Yes...without him...you would've died, and so would I..." Serenity voice chokes up with emotion at the thought. Her eyes open wide and sparkle as she finds the strength and breath to continue. "...because without him, I wouldn't have been able to come up here and save you..." Serenity whispers, tears rolling down her cheeks from her big expressive, blue eyes as she squeezes each of their hands in one of hers.

Up until now, so overcome with emotion, Kaiba had not noticed the change in color of Serenity's, often greenish-often brownish hazel eyes, except that now, they were a definite shade of striking cerulean blue----bluer than the sea, bluer than the sky...

"...Saved me...? White wings...Blue Eyes..."

"Thank you...for caring...father..." She whispers into Pegasus' own trembling eyes as her breath begins to fail her again. Her now blue eyes turn to Seto's confused ones with all her warmth and all her love shining clear and true.

"Seto, I love you...Kiss me, please." Serenity whispers, pulling his head close, feeling his warm breath, his eyes in hers---all her soul needs, as she slips back into unconsciousness. His lips gently, tenderly press to hers as she drifts off into dreamland.

"Tell me what you saw."

Kaiba's tone was decidedly softer, kinder to his father and Pegasus noted how this soft, sweet angel could calm the angry waters of his son's bitter soul.

Pegasus looks over Serenity's weakly breathing face to where Kaiba was gazing down at her. A question, a puzzle was on his furrowed brow as he tries to make sense of the muddle of clues and ideas and emotions going through his intellectual brain.

"Well..." Pegasus considers the consequences of telling the poor boy EXACTLY what he saw. The pros and cons of what happened with that sweet little girl in Seto's arms weighed heavily on Pegasus' mind-----

_So how will it affect my son's? Beauty and power all wrapped up in one lovely, little package? Hmmm...But, why? I only wish I knew more..._

"I...don't know how to put this, but...here goes...I don't really know WHAT happened--or more precisely, HOW it was able to happen..." Pegasus was excellent at stretching things out and avoiding questions at the same time, especially when his eloquent mind was at a lack for explanations.

Kaiba's patience was growing thin, but he was getting more accustomed to the man's funny ways as he simply rolls his eyes, awaiting for the silver-haired looney to spit out something productive---to connect some of the dots spinning around in Seto's own head today concerning the amazing girl in his arms.

Kaiba's eyes gaze down upon his sleeping beauty with concern.

"I do. Perhaps all the answers you seek lie in the past."

A mysterious voice exuding from the darkness of the doorway, leading down to the floor below, answers Pegasus' question still hanging in the air.


	13. Chapter 13

We do not own "Yu-Gi-Oh!" nor any characters.

**Chapter 13**

Meanwhile, down on the busy street full of escapees...

"Did you guys see what I saw or have I just gone nuts from these cars exhaust fumes in my face?" Duke says to the little group of friends all piled together around Joey injured and Miho's fainted forms in the back of Mai's roofless convertible.

They had finally made their way through the frenzied crowd outside to her car, and Mai was just starting up the engine when the crowd's sudden gasps and screams catch all of their attention. A single man, dressed all in black, with a ski mask on his face, had come crashing down to the street with a sickening splat. He had bounced off an ambulance roof, waiting at the scene, but he was no longer in need of one, as the people with tough stomachs all rush up to investigate the strangely dressed, soon to be pointed out to be the bomber by the investigators outside the scene.

"Yeah, Duke, we all saw the splattered man in black plunge to his death from the five-story roof. I really didn't need a re-update of that." Tristan was one of the weak stomach kind. He and blood, and broken bones and death didn't mix very well.

_And me without ANOTHER clean shirt, too..._

"No, not him." Duke, on the other hand, was the exact opposite. He was rather blase when it came to danger and other 'real guy' stuff. A macho one like him could take things like that any time of the day.

Duke rolls his eyes as he smacks Tristan in the back of his anvil head, tugging his hair strands until Tristan was looking upwards.

"Up there." Duke points, the sharp eyes of a gambler seeing everything.

"I don't see a thing, either, Duke." Mai answers, gazing up with a hand shading the sun. Her attention was on her car and the crowd now fencing them in.

"Come on! You HAD to have seen it! It was---yeah, like--that..." The only observant one who seemed to notice something in sky beyond the falling man, Duke makes funny size and shape gestures with his hands up in the air. The gang present give first him and then each other, weirded out looks.

"Fumes, man, fumes...It's all getting to you..."

Duke smirks at his unhinged for once, companion.

"Um, pardon me, but are you referring to that Blue Eyes, White Dragon that swooped down and rescued one of the two falling individuals just a few moments ago?" Ryou Bakura's lilting English voice was the best thing Duke had heard all day. The lavender haired boy saved him from all the ridicule he'd no doubt catch from his 'loyal' friends after his claim of seeing 'invisible' objects in the sky.

"You saw it, too! Man, Bakura! You're a lifesaver! See, guys?" Duke slaps poor Ryou on the back so hard that the young English lad lurches forward with a yelped start, while Duke gives naysayers Mai and Tristan a haughty smirk.

"Hey! I saw that! Take it easy on my hero, Dukie!" Rebecca Hawkins suddenly comes up from behind with a nasty face at Duke's behaviour towards her English gent.

"Hi, Bec." Duke groans, knowing he was in for a tongue lashing now.

"Hmph! Did he hurt you, Ryou? Cause if he did---" Rebecca waves an angry fist back at Duke as she tenderly rubs Ryou's poor back caringly.

"No, ehhhh, not at all. I'm fine, see?" Ryou stiffly straightens up. He didn't want to cause anyone trouble and he was never one to complain. "We were just discussing the Blue Eyes White Dragon sighting." Ryou adds, knowing Rebecca's curiosity already.

"Oh, yeah! We both saw it. I was just putting the last of the children on the bus to go when Ryou spotted it. Considering my excellent eyesight as well as the preponderance of evidence that card is his and his alone----the guy falling that the Blue Eyes caught must've been Seto Kaiba himself. The bomb threat obviously had something to do with him since the curator practically shouted that clue at us in the gallery. Kaiba must've tracked down the bomb, defused it, but the bomber got back up, they struggled, both came plunging over the edge, and then, Blue Eyes, White Dragon appeared in the real world to save its master. Case closed. Simple deduction for any five star detective." Rebecca puts her glasses on, adjusting them to look all smart and clever as she smiles triumphantly at her not-so-off-the-mark deduction.

"Smashing!"

Ryou was applauding, causing Rebecca to blush yet again at him as the gang's mouths hang open in awe. No one knew quite what to make of that mouthful or the applause that followed.

No one, that is, except for someone who wasn't supposed to be listening.

"Kaiba's still in dere! Why didn't he get Serenity out first! Stay here! There might be some more bad guys an' I don't trust Kaiba ta save my sista all by himself wit'out me! Serenity just betta be all right---or else!" Joey miraculously jumps up and out of the car as he races back into the building. Mai disobeys him as she races right behind her headstrong lover...

"Miss Ishizu Ishtar, I presume?" As creator of the game, doing his dueling challenger's research, her name and face had popped up in the most amusing of places. Maximillion Pegasus raises an eyebrow at the dark-skinned wisp of a woman who suddenly seemed to appear out of nowhere.

In fact, he had a certain sixth sense when it came to these sort of things. Pegasus was absolutely certain she was not there, just moments before.

_Dainty little girls transforming into giant dragons...mysterious women zapping around under the cloak of shadow? Seto Kaiba, multi-billionaire, owner of the largest gaming firm in the universe turning out to be my long-lost son-----my oh, my, this is turning out to be quite an interesting day, bomb scares and all. Tee hee..._

Pegasus' mind was curling over all this. The smile of pure, unadulterated humor showed plainly on his slight kooky lips and dancing eyes.

"You presume right, Maximillion Pegasus. Even without the Millennium Eye, your vision, as yet, still surpasses that of an ordinary man."

"One does try, you know." Cocking his head humbly, Pegasus banters with the woman with a boyish grin, achieving a retracting look from his son in the process.

Ishizu's own eyes were unaffected and filled with purpose for them both.

"Enough of the chitchat. If you've got something to say, Ishizu, say it. If not, I have problems of my own in the here and now without dredging up the past yet again." Kaiba sourly states as he lifts Serenity's fainted body in his strong arms and stands.

"Indeed you do, Seto Kaiba. More far-reaching than even you may begin to fathom." Ishizu enigmatically says. Her look rested deeply on Kaiba---and the young girl in his arms.

"If it is answers you seek, you would do better not to deny the questions---nor to insult the purveyors of the message."

A monotone accented voice is heard before it is seen. The magical and mysterious Egyptian man known only as 'Shadi' dephases from his invisible realm to berate Kaiba's irked response to his significant other--the deep souled woman to whom the power of future vision was once bestowed upon. He had trained her to walk amidst the boundaries of reality. Shadi fixes an eye on Ishizu who nods in greeting to her mystic mentor---and life's mission partner.

Kaiba snickers at Shadi's words, but his anger soon overwhelms him as it rises. He clutches Serenity's still form even tighter.

"And here I thought I've always taught him to treat the delicate feminine creature with respect. Where DID I go wrong?" Pegasus comments to Shadi drolly, raising his arms and shaking his head. He was ever the actor on life's stage.

"You taught me nothing, old man! Everything I know, everything I am, I owe to one person---Me." Kaiba's temper was getting the better of him now and Serenity wasn't there to calm him, either.

Or was she?

Kaiba's anger wasn't directed at Pegasus, nor Ishizu, nor Shadi, exactly. This anger was coming from inside his heart. It burned as he looked down at the sweet face laying against his chest. His heart that felt a strange, biting cold frost was full of foreboding, claustrophobic feelings.

"Got it?" Arrogantly facing his anger with harsh words, Kaiba barks the order out at his 'father' who closes back up into himself. Pegasus stepped backwards and away from the angry brown haired boy as Shadi and Ishizu exchange a worried glance.

"Then perhaps the solution to your troubles we came to offer you is too far from your heart's grasp if your mind is not yet prepared to endure and overcome." Shadi once again speaks in riddles---the very kind of smoke and mirrors that Seto Kaiba prided himself on not submitting to.

And yet...

There was something almost pleading to him in Ishizu's eyes---something that only a woman could understand about another woman's mate. In his eyes, Ishizu saw him as the one this girl owned---the one who would be willing to cross a million miles, overcome any obstacles, stop at nothing----to keep her safe in his arms...

Kaiba's gaze then searches Serenity's still face for a sign.

"Rich boy! What'dja do ta my sista! What's wrong wit her! Serenity!" Joey Wheeler's New York accent breaks through the silence enveloping the group on the rooftop as he comes bounding up three steps at a time the whole way.

Kaiba merely looks away from Joey, avoiding his questions as Joey races up to Serenity, who was prone in Kaiba's arms.

"Whoa! Shadi? Ishizu? What's the occasion?" Stopping long enough to notice the two Egyptian travelers, Tea was right on Joey's heels. She obviously had been awakened by the golden haired boy in his frantic search for his sister. Tea, too, was concerned for her best friend's safety.

"Is there a problem, Tea?" The moment Yugi Motou's voice enters the fray, both Ishizu and Shadi divert their eyes downward in reverential respect.

"Looks like you're better than a teen idol around here, Yugi---Oh, Serenity!" Mai's usual sarcastic remark takes a one-eighty when her purple eyes spot Kaiba holding an unconscious Serenity in his arms.

"I'm fine, Mai. Go to Joey." Yugi says in understanding, as Tea takes Mai's place under Yugi's beat up shoulder to stabilize his broken rib body.

Mai takes off to where Joey was standing in dumbfounded shock. He was trying incessantly to awaken his sleeping sister, but she just wasn't coming to.

"Here, let me hold her now, you jerk! How'dja let sometin' happen ta her like dis, Kaiba! I said, gimme my sista!" Crying angry tears, Joey was all but prying Serenity from Kaiba's grasp.

"No."

Was all the reply Joey gets.

"GIMME MY SISTA NOW!" Joey explodes, right in Kaiba's face. Both pig-headed men were perfectly ready to kill one another in this moment for the sake of a peaceful girl who'd do anything just to see the two men she loved most in the world, be friends.

"No, she's mine. She's my responsibility. She belongs to me, and I'm not going to let go of her until she wakes up and tells me to. I'm not letting go." Kaiba whispers in a daze, more to himself and Serenity, than to the weepy Wheeler in front of him.

Mai watches both men's expressions. She goes to Joey and rubs his tensed shoulder, just as she always did, in her way, to calm him down.

"Don't worry, Joey. Her Seto is not going to drop her. He's not going to let her down---he just couldn't. You and I know she loves him too much for that to happen to such a sweet kid."

"But...Mai---" Joey starts to argue, his gaze going back to Serenity as he gives Kaiba an evil eye.

"There's no use in fighting over her now, you big dummies. Wait till she's awake, at least, to appreciate all the 'love' you two shower on her. For now, you've gotta call a truce, so everyone she loves---and who loves her---can give it their all and work together to get her back to normal. You hear me, Joey?"

"Yeah, Mai, you're right." Joey smiles lightly at his older and wiser girlfriend.

"Good boy. That goes for you, too, big guy." Mai directs her gaze up at Seto Kaiba. His slightly slit eyes and smallest of small nods were her only answers.

"So, where do we have to take her?" Kaiba turns back to the pair of tan mystics. Trust and faith in whatever solution they were offering were not the natural first instincts the businessman in Kaiba had. However, the man inside of him----the heart-wrenched lover---was fully prepared, and yes, hoping, depending, on that trust and faith in Shadi and Ishizu's words.

"We must go back to where it all started. Only there, amongst the sands of ebbing time there may be a chance to save the girl in the destiny you all revolve in."

"The Valley of the Kings?" Yugi opens his deeply closed eyes. His soul answered Kaiba's unspoken question with the resounding reply.

"You are correct once again, Yugi Motou." Ishizu turns to the young man whose wisdom seemed ageless.

"Den let's go! Call dat fancy jet of yours ta get us dere, Moneybags!" Joey orders his rival. Kaiba doesn't even turn to acknowledge him for his eyes were studying Shadi's face intently.

"It is not that easy a path to travel. Where there is doubt, the success is fleeting." Shadi replies, as Kaiba's brows furrow even further.

"But you do KNOW the path. I can sense your belief in it. So it must be possible! Please, for the sake of this innocent girl who never did anything to harm anyone---please tell us. It would mean everything to a man whose world is crumbling beneath him. Shadi, please say there is hope. Please do." From standing quietly in the background, Maximillion Pegasus' voice was strangely normal, with a definate air of determination in his ardent plea.

No jokes, no teasing, no sarcasm was detectable. Pegasus' own heart fully realized what his words were saying, for he, himself went through this helpless feeling of the highest, most utter pain before, long ago, in his own sands of ebbing time.

"Yes, owner of the Millennium Eye. You can yet feel others' thoughts and see inside their souls, even without its power." Shadi says, looking at Pegasus' pleading face directly in his one eye. He turns to receive Ishizu's nod, as if Pegasus' intense hope retrieved their own doubtful ones on this mission's success.

"Yes, there is hope. But only if you place your trust in others. Therein, your true power lies." Shadi turns back to Kaiba with the answer. Ishizu takes a few steps back towards the others.

"For more than just the fate of this one, young woman may hang in the balance. She, I fear, is just the beginning. Tea, are you willing to aid this ill-fated pair in destiny? You are the one who holds the key." Ishizu looks the startled girl in the eye suddenly. Tea's own eyes pop out at being addressed with such important matters.

"M-me?" Tea cocks her head, looking to Yugi, whose eyebrows arch at her.

"Of course, I'll--I'll help in any way I can! Serenity is one of my best friends!" Tea was stumbling over her words, but her sentiment was in the right place.

"That is good. For you are the holder of the key to solving this riddle. But soon, all the pieces must fall into place for that key to be unlocked."

Just then, the sound of clattering steps come from behind them all, as if, just on cue, to answer Ishizu's mysterious words.

"I hope we haven't kept you waiting."

They all watch a familiar pair of faces climb up to the rooftop, blonde hair blowing in the breeze.

Marik Ishtar and his brother, Odion, join the group.

"Yes, the circle is nearly complete." Shadi states as Marik walks up to him and offers Kaiba the Millennium Rod, held in his tanned hands. Once again, it glimmered in the sunlight at them, with its ancient, though dimmed, powers.


	14. Chapter 14

We do not own "Yu-Gi-Oh!" nor any characters.

**Chapter 14**

"Do you believe the stairs that lead to the rooftop are behind this door? With no guide nor patrons to query, this place is a proverbial maze." Ryou sighs. He felt like a totally lost loser by now.

_Oh, jolly nice. I wanted SO to impress Rebecca----I mean, help the others. Yes, that's what I meant, indeed._

Ryou Bakura thinks to himself, now wondering how he let sweet, little Rebecca Hawkins have her way in boldy reentering the museum's back entrance and helping her sneak past the now growing security in the museum's front hall.

_I get so flustered when she's around! How can I deny those pleading eyes anything?_

Ryou smiles to himself, feeling a certain affection for the younger girl that he had never experienced before.

_I thought I'd never know this feeling...until today...It's such a new feeling._ _Is it getting hot in here or is my collar merely warm?_

"Well, there's only one way to find out!" Rebecca sings out happily in her high-pitched way. She waltzes right past Ryou, unaware that his blushing face was growing feelings forming for her, as she throws open the door in a darkened corner of the museum. She boldly walks into its recesses.

"Umm...Yugi? Joey...?..._. gulp _Is anyone in here?" Rebecca calls out to the darkness, half hoping for an answer, but also hoping not for the wrong kind, in this frightening place, for there were strange, impressionist like paintings eerily surrounding her, every step deeper into the room.

"Miss Rebecca? I don't think this is the way. Do you? Maybe this wasn't such a good idea. We should go back into the hall." Ryou wasn't exactly a chicken when it came to eerie, dark corridors and insane looking portraits staring back at them, but he wasn't exactly macho enough either to pretend that he wasn't a tad frightened by them.

"Yy-eah, I think that's a good IDEA-----"

"AHHHHHHHHHH!"

Rebecca and Ryou both start screaming in terror, when, amidst the ebony shadows of the large room as they turn to leave it, a strange pulsating object streaks in from the hallway, straight towards them. It's five-pointed beams and ring of light scare the wits out of both timid explorers as they cling to one another in fearful screeching.

"AHHHHH! This place is haunted!" Rebecca illogically cries out, showing that she wasn't only a scientist/computer whiz/analytical geek, but also a feminine young girl, in need of a little male reassurance, which, by the way, Ryou was supplying in the form of his arms around her lithe body, prepared to shield her from any dangerous "ghosts" or "ghouls" approaching.

"AHHHHHHHH!"

Their screams of terror in unison bellow through the empty halls of the art museum...

"What circle that you speak of is almost complete, Shadi?" Yugi asks, somehow feeling that he had asked the question before somewhere.

"The circle of untold power traversing past and present---the ceaseless sphere that is the bond of the Millennium Items." Shadi answers, his hands gesturing towards the golden Millennium Puzzle adorning Yugi's neck and the Millennium Rod that Marik was holding out to Seto Kaiba. He then fingers his own Millennium Key, once again hung around his neck.

"I thought they had been rendered powerless, totally now, that the Pharaoh's mission is complete." Yugi wonders aloud to him as he touches his fate-changing puzzle.

"At the moment, yes. But if utilized at the proper time," Shadi's slit eyes dart over to Tea, and the Millennium Pendant she had fished out of her shirt and was now holding up to the light, scrutinizing it for the millionth time since she and the others had returned from their most recent adventure in Egypt's tombs, "their powers will be restored to full capacity, yet again."

"...time..." Tea's soft whisper catches Yugi's full attention. Her big, blue eyes seemed to be mesmerized by the glinting gold of the pendant sparkling in the bright sunlight back at her.

"Yes, Tea. You know what you and only you can do to save this girl's life." Ishizu says.

"And in doing so, change the destiny of many." Odion adds, his usual silence broken as he stands behind Marik. Both tanned men looked upon Serenity's still form in Seto's arms with a foreboding of what it all meant.

"I can use my Pendant to save Serenity? But, how? I don't have the power to use it on my own!" Tea asks, fear in her eyes.

"Any Millennium Item can harness the energies within any of the other ones, for within each still as yet, holds an ambient power and a store of sealed energy---but only if their true master wills that last energy's release. For this vital mission to be complete, for your special Millennium Pendant's power to be extracted, all seven Millennium Items' remaining energies must be offered to yours." Shadi explains, as each person holding an Item, looks to Yugi. Shadi ,as well, now gazes deeply into Yugi's confused eyes, handing him the last of the items---the Millennium Scales and the Millennium Eye.

"I've been told this rightly belongs to you." Yugi moves to Odion, giving him the Scales, to which Odion shakes his head in disbelief.

"No, you must be mistaken. I am merely a servant." Odion belittles himself, falling to his knees before the proffered Item of great value.

"No, Odion. You are much more than that. Destiny has a way of bringing us to where we should be--even when we are ignorant of its existence. Take it. It's yours. I only ask you to help us with it now." Yugi speeches at him with a knowing smile.

"I will do my utmost in your honor." Odion bows, his eyes deferred.

"Thank you, Odion." Yugi nods at him in that commanding way. His attention was now turned to the owner of the final Item in his hand.

"Pegasus." Yugi says simply. Both men scrutinize the little Millennium Eye that was resting dormant in Yugi's palm.

"Is that for lil' ole me? Hee hee." Pegasus giggles gleefully, but then his laughing face turns from humorous to serious in the flash...of an eye. "Are you certain, Yugi-boy?" The older man asks. His tone turns serious for once as his one good eye asked the question of his heart.

"If you are, Pegasus." Yugi answers in his deep voice, both knowing what the power of THAT item did to him the last time he wore it.

But then, things were different. His mind was not so corruptible now. And it was not as weak as it once was.

_At least I hope it's not..._

Pegasus feared himself more than anything in the world, for he did not want the darkness to consume his ill-balanced mind yet again.

_Cecelia, give me your strength this time...Help me, now...Is this what I must do to save our son from the life I have lived? Or rather, the life I have not lived..._

"I must be, for the sake of another."

Surprisingly serious, Pegasus brushes his silvery bangs back, replacing the Millennium Eye to his face as it fuses to his skin. It was his----destined for him even before he was born, a timeless Millennia ago...

"Ooooh, hello, old friend..." Pegasus coos with a chuckle as he feels the surge of mind numbing power, though weak, that revealed all within another's mind.

_Now if only I can hold onto my own._

"Now six of the Millennium Items have been assembled." Yugi states, glancing around at those around them, a Millennium Item in each of their hands.

_Myself, Pegasus, Shadi, Ishizu, Odion, Marik holding the Rod for Kaiba..._

"So that only leaves...Where's the Millennium Ring?" Yugi questions aloud, wary of the answer.

"I suppose it went searching for me."

With an English voice, deep and thick, Ryou Bakura climbs the ladder to the roof, with the Millennium Ring tied firmly around his neck as he smiles at them. Everyone assembled eyes the powerful presence of the one man destined to thieve his way into fate and history...

"Is that...you...Bakura? I mean, the "good" Ryou. The nice guy with the English accent, whose father is an archaeologist, who likes to eat doughnuts and who's going to graduate school in a few weeks with us? That Bakura, right?" Tea speaks for everyone when she takes an uneasy step towards the lavender haired young man whose soft, brown eyes seemed to stare straight through her with the intensity she had only felt when he was possessed by the soul of his ancient ancestor, who had been trapped inside the Millennium Ring for thousands of years until his evilness and vengefulness could be awakened again once placed his descendant's neck...

"The very same."

That was all the reply, but it was still his sweet, youthful voice, though his tone was somehow filled with the confidence that usually didn't possess, making the gang watching his entrance on the scene skeptical.

After all, the Thief was a wily one. Often times in the past, he had overtaken their schoolmate's body without either his nor their knowledge.

_But we defeated him already, didn't we?_

Tea's mind shudders as his dark eyes sear through her.

"The real question is, Bakura, can we trust you to aid us on this mission of utmost importance?"

Tea notices the way Yugi takes a long stride forward to stand in front of her, between the woman he loves and what could be the Pharaoh's most ancient rival.

"Oh, oh! Allow me to answer that Million-dollar question, Yugi-boy! If I may, young sir?" Pegasus was oozing over with excitement at the chance to use his Millennium Eye's potential once again. "I've just been itching to take you for a test-drive, my sweet, little Eye! I've missed you so..." Pegasus murmurs as he walks towards the boy in question. He felt the presence of every mind surrounding him, suddenly, and with such crystal clear clarity---their energy, their confidence, their doubts, their mission---that he almost stumbles in his walk. He opens his mind's Eye as he moves towards Ryou.

Letting his mind go as Pegasus enters into it, Ryou closes his eyes willingly. Yugi, Joey, Mai, Tea, Shadi, Ishizu, Odion, Marik and Kaiba all watch Pegasus' mind scan of Bakura with more than a little trepidation and anxiety.

What if he did turn out to be the wicked thief? What then? The Millennium Ring always seemed to find its way back to him with its all powerful mimicking qualities. But, as with all the other Items, its energy was at a minimum, too. Wasn't it?

They all witness place his hands on Ryou's forehead as if the Millennium Eye was having difficulty in breaking through. Pegasus' own brows were clenched in concentration.

"Even if the old man says that this guy is our classmate---no evil Egyptian thief present in his cracked head---are we really supposed to believe EITHER of them? Come on! One's a disreputable, calculating pilferer among other noble traits and the other's a certified, stark raving mad lunatic!" Seto Kaiba had had more than enough of today's little circus tricks. His urgency to something---anything---to save the girl in his arms was outweighing his skepticism of all this hocus-pocus up until now.

But enough was enough.

_I've got to get going!...Serenity...Serenity needs me...And I need her..._

"Yes, you do! I heard that, Kaiba-boy." Pegasus opens his eye with a smirking chuckle at the doubting Thomas behind him. "But I'll forgive you any disparaging remarks due to the stress level you must be under. But only because I'm SUCH a nice guy." Pegasus mimicks Kaiba's usual line in a tease, as a smile dances in glee and Kaiba rolls his eyes.

"So, Pegasus?" Yugi takes charge once again. The query in his raised brow was aimed at the older man.

"All clear, Captain." Pegasus drawls with a salute. He pats Ryou on the head like a good puppy before turning to the wide-eyed little girl, standing thus silent in the shadows of the rooftop entrance behind where Bakura had come in.

"And don't you worry, little miss. Your boy here has got QUITE the soft spot for you. In fact, I do believe that our friend Bakura here is a hopeless romantic who believes in love at first sight---intensely. And, I predict, the same goes for you...despite all that jealousy over Miss Gardner's "nice guy with an English accent" remark. Don't fret about her, dear. She's got the hots for our Yugi-boy and ahem I can assuredly tell you, the feeling is wholeheartedly mutual. Shame on you, Yugi-boy! A lady is a lady, no matter how tight you see her in those tiny little shorts!"

Pegasus turns from his whispered conversation with Rebecca's blushing face in the doorway over Ryou's thankfully still dazed head, to where Yugi guiltily and hurriedly averts his eyes from Tea's...anything!...after being accused loudly enough by the gossipy mindreader. Pegasus giggles in glee at the shared blush now coating both Yugi's and Tea's cheeks. Yugi wishes he hadn't given the Eye back to the confounded man.


	15. Chapter 15

We do not own "Yu-Gi-Oh!" nor any of its characters.

**Chapter 15**

"Are you amply assured now, Yugi? We must be on our way. Time is of the essence." Shadi states simply, his eyes intense on Yugi's.

"For the sake of more than these two souls, we chosen must pool our energies together to forge for them a new destiny. Is that your desire, Yugi?" Ishizu also looks to Yugi for his command before proceeding with this mission.

"Yes, that is my wish." Yugi's determined eyes scan each face. Nods pass between he and Ishizu, then Shadi and finally, Odion. He turns to Pegasus' approving smirk and then to Ryou's wide-opened eyes, accompanied then by a swift nod when Rebecca puts her arms around his waist to steady the teetering English lad.

Yugi's gaze then travels over to where the others were standing. Joey and Mai both gave him their confidence in thumbs-up signals. Marik's eyes meet his with understanding as Yugi finally looks to Kaiba.

The tall, lean man grit his teeth and swallowed his pride as he gives a dead serious nod, slowly, to the man who would be forever his rival.

_For you, Serenity..._

"Tea, are you certain that the strain won't be too much for you to withstand?" Yugi's gaze rests upon the young woman at his side---always at his side. Tea's clear blue eyes meet his in gratitude for his caring.

This was something she had to do for her best friend, and for the man she loved. Despite the fact that Tea herself didn't like Seto Kaiba's bad attitude and even worse mouth to her important friends, she, as a woman, knew of Serenity's tremendous love for him. She also understood what lengths that meant a woman in love would go to save him.

The despair present in Kaiba's eyes was something Tea had not seen before. His great love in return for Serenity's, made Tea sure that, in saving Serenity, they'd also be saving whatever goodness there was in Kaiba. Serenity was his light---his love, his "Blue Eyes"...

"I'll be fine, Yugi. As long as all of you guys are with me, I'll be fine." Tea smiles into his troubled purple eyes.

"Shadi and I will guide you, Tea. Don't be frightened. Once we arrive, you must unlock your Millennium Pendant's vast power. You must believe in it---and we will be able to light your pathway to the time and place necessary to fulfill your mission." Ishizu says to Tea, with a nod to her partner standing in robes behind her.

"But what is supposed to happen when we get there?" Yugi asks. Soulful time travel was something he'd done before, but still, he'd like to be aware of what was going to go on once they arrived.

"You will understand more once we are on the sacred land. The wind blows through you there with more clarity---closer to the lands of our birthright." Odion answers in his low, rumbling voice.

"Then what are we waiting for? Why didn't you freaks say something in the first place? I'll send for one of my aircraft from my fleet of---" Kaiba starts barking out orders suddenly. He attempts to click the communicator on his KC collar as he holds Serenity's unconscious body.

"Don't bother, my boy. My private air jet is already on its way here. It would seem I'm one step ahead of you--I must be mind reader." Pegasus speaks up with a joking chuckle. His forefinger was tapping the Millennium Eye affixed to his face for his clairvoyance.

"You're out of your mind if you think you can run my life! I have been---and I still intend to---watch out for myself. I don't NEED your help, old man. I never did before. I can take care of myself! I have my own plane. Yours is not required. I don't require ANYTHING that's yours. You understand? This is all your fault." Kaiba's chin motions to the girl in his arms as he growls his anger out at the silvery haired man whose smile wipes right off his face at his son's sour words of past reproach and future shut out.

"My fault! What did I do to her!" Pegasus uncharacteristically yells back. He usually teased his way out of every argument to come out on top, but something inside egged him on to continue this quarrel.

"It's what you DIDN'T do for her! I ASKED you to keep her safe downstairs! I ASKED you to watch over her in my place! I guess that was too much to ASK a crazy, old man. I should've known better than to trust you with anything! You only run away from everything tough. I can only trust you to do that..." Kaiba, too, feels his ire rise in his chest as he cries out his anger at the best target around.

"Trust ME to run away! Don't you raise your voice to me that way. You have no IDEA what I was going through! I couldn't stop Serenity from going to you! What is it you think I owe you?" Pegasus was screaming now at the top of his lungs. Kaiba's growl was loud enough to scare away any lion or beast by its threatening tone in response.

"MY LIFE!" Kaiba shouts out, his memories of a lonely orphaned youth of a family not had, and parents who didn't care. His past resentment piled up, was broken only by Serenity's endangerment.

He lets go of his anger as the menacing dark clouds above seem to growl with him at the man who claimed to be his father. Both men were ready to tear each other apart verbally, if not physically, by now. Anger and regret of past wrongs cast a shadow over their souls. Serenity's frail silent light was beginning to fade away into blackness for all eternity...

"Stop this now!" Ishizu's voice was at its most devastatingly commanding. She trotted up and threw her arms between Kaiba and Pegasus' arguing faces at each other.

"If you two gentlemen continue this path of blind anger and blame, you will repeat the past eternally." Shadi was at Ishizu's side. The turbaned man's voice and eyes were monotone and stable as always, yet there was something eerily prophetic in them as his eyes sear into both Pegasus and Kaiba.

"So what's that supposed to mean? What does it matter if I don't 'play nice' and forgive him for all the wrongs he's done to me?" Kaiba lets his own inner demons of so many uncertain, unwanted years bubble up until he was ready to burst. His anger was enflamed at his unworthy parent's lack of total interest in the innocent child abandoned all those years ago.

"And what of my life? It hasn't been a bowl of cherries for me, either. You can never understand what I lost that day." Pegasus cries out his own pain. Visions of Cecelia's death tortured his mind.

"The same rift between father and son was the direct cause of a life lost, then--another innocent child--that anger, self-pride, and resentment destroyed in ancient Egypt, three millennia ago. Therein lies both your greatest weakness and your greatest loss." Shadi enigmatically comments on the red-hot anger blazing on both Kaiba and Pegasus' broken-hearted eyes between each other.

"Father and son?" Yugi's low voice asks. His eyebrows furrow as his head cocks and they all watch the dramatic scene playing before them with interest.

"Pegasus is Kaiba's daddy! You gotta be kiddin' me!" Joey's incredulous voice questions, his New York accent thick and confused on top of it all.

"A fact that hasn't been proven!" Swiveling his head to turn to Joey, Kaiba growls low in denial. But one last look from Pegasus' forlorn face, accompanied by a glance at Serenity's delicate features and final request, causes him to have a change of heart.

"----yet..." He adds softly, despite himself, through clenched teeth.

Pegasus' glare softens with a respite of hope glimmering. That glint of hope was all the reason Ishizu needed. She glides to Shadi and nods to him to go forward on their quest. The road was not as torrid and blocked as it had just seemed.

"I shoulda known those two were related!" Joey murmurs under his breath to Mai, who was watching the whole thing with wide eyes.

"You said it, hon. It's just like a cheesy soap opera! What COULD happen next, I wonder...?" Mai clucks her tongue in affected distaste, though she was apparently highly entertained by the whole scenario.

"Then let us be on our way." Shadi announces, ignoring her, right on cue as an airjet hovers over the rooftop as if in answer to his call. The words "Industrial Illusions" were accented by the colorful cartoon rabbit's playful smiling teeth and demented face looming down at them.

"This over antiquated heli-jet just better get us there in one piece, ASAP." Seto Kaiba comments as he is nearly the last to climb aboard the spacious copter, with Serenity still peacefully in his arms. He followed everyone else who had promptly scrambled aboard on its touchdown on the rooftop.

"Just climb aboard and find out, my doubting Thomas of a son" Maximillion Pegasus' spirits were slowly lifting by the degree of trust that Kaiba was giving him, was the last to board the aircraft that his illustrious company had sent. He gracefully ascended into the roomy half-jet, half-helicopter---all classy---aircraft, with the poise that only an artist gave to the world around him.

"To the Egyptian tomb of the Pharaohs, pilot, and don't spare the over-inflated, pricey fuel for one second! Between the two of us, we SURELY can afford it, can't we?" Glancing at Kaiba's silent form, Pegasus sings into his communicator to the cockpit ahead. With one press of another choice button, a freshly poured glass of wine arrives through a duct into his arm rest and he takes it delicately in his elegantly poised hand.

Soft, calming music fills the cabin as the gang gaze around in awed surprise at the decadent luxuries of the rich and famous.

"Anyone care to join me in some libations? It does wonders for the soul. Come now, don't be shy. I'll know if you're just being polite." Pegasus was chuckling in his silly way again. He tipped his sloshing wine glass towards them as he again taps his all-knowing, golden Millennium Eye, that was gleaming at them all.

_I just hope it works. This is insanity._

Kaiba grunts to himself as he brushes back loose strands of Serenity's hair from her face, holding her slumped body against him.

The heli-jet soars through the skies, unfettered, bringing them all to their destiny...


	16. Chapter 16

We do not own "Yu-Gi-Oh!" nor any of its characters.

**Chapter 16**

The shifting sands toss seamlessly on the winds as the sky, the clouds above them and the grounds below, seem to pulsate with energies ageless millennia unseen as those with the fated connection in destiny to souls of the ancients who once ruled these lands draw near.

Changing destinies...

"This is our stop, kiddies! We'll be landing shortly. Do fasten in those seatbelts--at least ONCE during the flight! That's what they're there for after all. Safety first! It's been fun! Thanks for riding I.I.Express. Come again." Pegasus' singsong voice announces over the plane's intercom. All the passengers give a sigh of relief that they had finally arrived in the place where something hopefully could be done for Serenity Wheeler according to the mysterious Shadi, and the psychic Ishizu Ishtar. Somehow, together, all of them could overcome a predestined fate for someone who had become so dear and who was part of their family.

_Geez, I can't imagine what life would be like without you...and I don't want to, Serenity. Always such a sweet kid--you're really like a sister to me._ Mai thinks to herself as she gazes out the window at the brightly sunlit desert and pyramids lining the landscape below. _Now if only you could convince your big, dumb brother to get some guts and pop the question! Then we really could be sisters..._

Mai smirks, distracting herself as she looks to her love's oh-so-serious face out of the corner of her slanted purple eyes.

_So you just better stick around to make sure he does, Serenity._

Mai feels a tear sting behind her strong eyes as they glance at the red-headed girl leaning against Seto Kaiba at the window nearby. Mai fights the tear with all that was in her and swallows her deep emotional connection to the younger girl who had somehow always understood her---almost as a soulmate would, though the two women could be no more different than night and day.

_Where Serenity's soft and kind to everybody, I'm hard and tough. Where Serenity nice to everyone, I'm mean--with attitude to spare. Serenity's generous to a fault and I'm selfish and conceited. On top of it all, Serenity's got the sweetest, warmest, most loving heart I've ever seen and mine...Well, mine's made of cold ice. We're so different that if her soul is pure white---mine would be jet black..._

Mai muses to herself with a deep throated chuckle, causing the boy next to her to look away from boring a "stare" hole in his sister's unconscious head leaning against another man, to have his gaze fall upon Mai's reflective face in the window---her beautiful face and stunning model features.

Sure, Mai was his girlfriend, and someday, though the macho man in Joey rarely contemplated it, even silently to himself---someday sure, they'd become something more. But there was something more to the relationship than mere physical attraction between two gorgeous folks such as they. Mai was his special friend. She had been through it all with him and she was that someone she could rely upon in tough times. Even now, her smiling eyes were giving him confidence and hope that his own depressed heart was struggling to find. And that meant a lot to him---especially now. Mai could feel Joey's eyes on her.

_Oh, Serenity, I can't let him lose you. You mean so much to both of us. I just wish I could do something...I'd do anything...for Joey..._

Mai prays with all her soul, closing her eyes.

_I love you both, so much..._

"Um, Ryou, do you think the sky just became suddenly dark or have my glasses just started fogging up from the sudden rise in humidity from the atmospheric change in the hemispheric shift?" Rebecca Hawkins' adorable little voice and equally adorable little face from beside the quiet, timid boy with the ultimate power of the Millennium Ring around his neck and a cup of Earl Grey tea in his hand.

"You're right. There is a definite dreariness befalling the sky suddenly. Perhaps a storm is brewing?" Ryou answers her question with his own aloud. It in turn was answered by his dark-skinned once ally in the forces of evil. Marik Ishtar breaks his silence in the rear of the plane to speak up.

"There AREN'T natural storms of this magnitude at this time of year here." Marik, a native of the land, comments with a trace of fear on his lips.

"You are right, my brother. Perhaps there is some unnatural force attempting to thwart us on our mission." Ishizu cries out, just as the pilot's voice breaks over the intercom.

"Mr. Pegasus! We're dealing with some heavy wind turbulence from out of nowhere! We're going to have to set this plane down and soon! Or it's going to set itself down in its own way if you know what I mean, Sir!" There was definite fear in the pilot's strained voice.

"Then by all means, my man, take us down." 'Captain' Pegasus commands, his voice teetering as the sudden violent storm thrashes the plane. The occupants of the aircraft felt the terror of impending death chill their veins as darkness envelopes the plane...

As the plane begins its unplanned descent towards a quickened landing, the sudden dark storm cloud that had enveloped them begins to break out into a torrential, pounding rain. The sound of the elements pouring down on the plane's wings and cabin was almost deafening. Everybody was holding on for dear life as the pilot veers out of the way of several deadly bolts of blue-green lightning streaks down towards the unsuspecting aircraft and its load of passengers.

"I didn't order any special effects!" Pegasus calls out guiltily, shaking his head.

"Where's all that lightning emanating from?" Yugi Motou's deep voice rumbles from his window seat. He felt a presence of power that was not exactly evil---only dark and confused.

"Maybe from that!" Tea cries out in panic. Her finger points past Yugi's face to a dark object hovering just outside the window, not too far away.

The jet black cloud that had been mistaken for a storm above the jet slowly reveals itself to be a mass of ominous black scales. The reptilian wings of a dragon beating so fiercely upon the clouds above the planet that they shed what little precipitation they had gathered in the desert this day into the hail drops that had pelted down on the aircraft, leaving small darts in its metal casing ceiling.

"A dragon! Oh, Ryou, save me!" Rebecca feigns terror (although, in reality, she was feeling a bit more curious than she proclaimed.) Her analytical mind was thrown to the wind when attempting to use feminine charms as she shrieks, throwing herself bodily on her newest "boyfriend." Shy eyes bug out of Ryou's head as he was too shocked to oblige in any meaningful way. It was all he could do to keep his tea from spilling all over her while keeping one eye on the scales and black wings just outside their vessel.

"Don't worry, Miss Rebecca. This is a good dragon...I believe...if you're the sort to believe in such creatures." Ryou considers as he looks at the ominous black creature seen through the window.

"Not just any dragon." Kaiba slits his eyes. His infinite knowledge of Duel Monsters and his infinite knowledge of dragons was his pride and joy, as well as his business.

"I'd know those charcoal black scales and ebony claws and wings anywhere. After all, I'm the one who painted them!" Pegasus agrees with his protege, breaking his airline safety rules by unbuckling his seatbelt to rush to the nearest window to see more of his masterful work of art in real life up close.

_ Gulp _

"Hey, Mai! Is dat what I tink it is!" Shaking Mai's shoulder before he rushes in excitement, Joey cries out, jumping to his feet, as his seatbelt was never strapped in yet anyway, to press his face to the side window to get a better glimpse of someone near and dear to his heart.

"Is it her, Joey?" Yugi asks, already knowing the answer, but wanting to hear it from its owner's lips.

"Yeah, it's her! My Red Eyes, Black Dragon! Whoo-eeee!" Joey was too overcome with exhilaration---like a kid in a candy shop---to ask any pertinent questions at this time.

Luckily enough, Seto Kaiba wasn't the type to let emotions override his intelligence or sanity.

"Then the question should be, Wheeler, what the hell is your dragon doing outside of our plane right now, scaring the starch of the pilot and the other ladies on this jet? Hmmm? Have you lost total control of your deck---something not so hard to believe---or are you the one who's lost it from all the pressure. Also something not so hard to believe." Kaiba tears into his rival.

Joey's fleeting joy was taken right out of him at seeing his beloved Red Eyes by Kaiba's stinging words.

"You're askin' for it, Moneybags, and you're gonna get it dis time! You know I've got nuthin' to do with dis!" Joey growls. Something in his pride was hurt to the core as he lunges toward his evil-eyed rival with a punch.

Yugi and Ryou jump up and restrain him, just in time, as Kaiba never moves a muscle. His only reaction was to pull Serenity closer to his chest as if in a dare to her protective "dear" brother.

"Gentlemen, pleeeaaase! No violence on my aircraft. It's a company rule." Pegasus interjects.

"Mai! We've gotta do something about Joey's temper. Mai! Mai? Joey needs you! Hey! Where'd she go!" Tea turns to the only one of them who ever seemed to calm down the hurricane that was Joey Wheeler. But instead finds her missing from the seat Tea could've sworn she was sitting in just moments earlier.

_I guess she had to go to the rest room...and at a time like this, too! Oooh! _

"JOEY! Get a hold of yourself!" Tea decides to take matters into her own hands then. She screams at full blast, so loud, right into his ear, that both Yugi and Ryou, holding Joey back, get stunned backwards by the sheer volume of her voice.

"Huh?" Joey though, was like a bull seeing red. Tea's wake-up call knocked his senses back for a moment. Just long enough for his eyes to gaze out the dark window and meet an exquisitely large certain pair of deep red eyes peering back at him in all their crimson glory with a calming clarity that pervades his soul and his heart. The only other pair of eyes that could glimpse either one of those things----

_----was Mai..._

Just as fast as that thought passes through his mind, before his glance finishes turning around, the darkness suddenly lifts and the thunder, lightning and rain pass just as suddenly as they came. And Mai---

Mai Valentine was passed on her airplane seat, slumped over.

"Mr. Pegasus, Sir! We must have----" The voice of the pilot begins to come over the loudspeaker.

"-----rode out of the sudden violent storm? Yes, never mind the spurious landing, Croquet. And yes, you may continue on our original course to our private landing pad at the site of the pyramids. Carry on, Croquet. Carry on with the landing. Thank you, come again."

Pegasus' relieved voice had that bored "I-can-read-your-thoughts- before-you-even-ask-them" sound to it. He answers the poor man's questions previous to their query with a bit of a bored sigh.

_Predicting other people's thoughts by probing their teeny little minds can be SUCH a tiresome thing. I'd almost forgotten how much..._

Pegasus clicks at his golden Millennium Eye's mind reading device with his forefinger's nail impatiently.

"What do you think that whole Black Dragon episode was all about, Yugi?" Tea turns to her love for all answers to all things mysterious in these parts, her voice decidedly quieter.

"I'm not sure, Tea." Yugi puts a thoughtful hand under his chin as he sits, bending his knuckles under its resting weight as his brows furrow deep in thought.

"Perhaps the Red Eyes, Black Dragon was trying to send us a message of sorts---as if it was attempting to tell us that it has some role to play in this mission we are about to embark upon."

Tea's mouth drops open from the confident words and gorgeous confident face that went with it. She had always admired the way the Pharaoh---and now her Yugi---could formulate a theory with such exquisite "big" words and secret greater hidden meanings.

_Especially since you're usually right about everything! That sure helps._

Tea was hanging on his every word by now.

"After all, Red Eyes Black Dragon and Blue Eyes, White Dragon---though diametrically opposed in every way, are linked in some special way to one another. So perhaps Red Eyes has made an appearance to signify its interest in aiding Blue Eyes' recovery. For without light, there can be no darkness and without darkness----"

"---There can be no light! Sheesh, Yugi! I thought I was supposed to be the intellectually speechifying college graduate who tended to roll off at the mouth when espousing hypotheses." Rebecca Hawkins pipes up from her seat across the aisle, admiration in her teasing remark evident as her eyes were all on Yugi Motou's cutely creased brow when he was intelligently making extrapolations on theory. She was nearly drooling at him as well.

A fact that had not gone unnoticed to the young man beside her. Ryou Bakura eyed Rebecca's and Tea's eyes, all adoring up at Yugi and he couldn't help but feel something irked inside of his pride. He was not quite sure what it was, but Yugi always seemed to best him---

At everything...

"Ohhhhhh" Tea's awed response is uttered in a lip pursed "o" as if she wasn't entirely getting the meaning of Yugi's words, but still being struck by them. Suddenly, her eyes light up as they dart silently over to where Serenity was laying in repose in Seto Kaiba's tensed arms. "Oh, you mean..." Tea trails off on the name of the girl in question. She didn't want to confuse Joey any further with stuff nobody really could explain as her eyes follow Yugi's silent ones to Serenity Wheeler's still form.

"Yes." Yugi's low voice was barely above a vibration rumble as he meets Tea's eyes with a nod. After a long, shared glance at Serenity, Yugi diverts from the gaze to look at Joey. The poor guy was still plastered to the airplane window, as if possessed, to see something that was no longer there.

"What are you looking for out there, hon? I've heard the pyramids and sphinx are impressive, but we're no run of the mill tourists, Joey Wheeler. We've got work to do here." Mai Valentine's low voice interrupts Joey's scanning eyes back and forth across the skyscape. He was none the wiser that she had ever been passed out, moments ago, when the sighting occurred. Mai's perpetual smirk was still on her lips as she looks at him.

"I'm not sightseein', Mai! I'm lookin' for dat dragon!" Joey defends himself as he goes back to his station near the window.

"Dragon? What dragon?" Mai's amused face draws a blank as she blinks in confusion at Joey. She had missed the entire "Red Eyes" incident----

Or did she?

"Get out, Mai! Joke's over! Ya had to have seen it!" Joey chortles at his blonde girlfriend's little joke at him.

"No, Joey, I didn't see a thing and don't you ever laugh at me again!" Mai's angry purple eyes flare red when they were angered, such as now.

"But---" Joey's brown eyes crinkle in concern, about to question Mai further when Pegasus' voice calls all of his attention as the silver-haired man returns from the cockpit door.

"Fasten your seatbelts, kiddies, we've finally arrived! And in one piece, too."

"You're not gonna let me take my sista, are ya?" Joey jumps up from his seat the minute the plane lands, bounding up to Kaiba in the front row and standing over him with a threatening glare.

"No." Seto claims Serenity's frail body and stands toe to toe with her irate brother as he scoops her up in his arms and towers over Joey. The dare was not yet withdrawn.

"Fine. You just betta not let her down, Rich Boy, or all da bodyguards in da world aren't gonna save you from my fists." Joey merely threatens as Mai's hand rests on Joey's shoulder to calm him down.

"I'll never let her down...and not because of you." Kaiba finishes the conversation curtly, pushing past Joey with his shoulder as he dismisses his golden-haired rival as if Joey wasn't even there.

"Grrrrrr..." Joey was proving himself more the dog Kaiba often called him with every bared fang and growl at the arrogant man waltzing right past him with a snide look on his stone hard features.

"Down boy." But Mai was there at her love's side and she whispered in his ear in that low voice she often used to calm her fiery boyfriend down and at the same time giving him those reprimanding eyes.

_Dose eyes..._

Joey shakes off that eerie, deja-vu feeling as he feels intensely Mai's eyes shoot right through him as if there was a certain spark in them---a certain burning red fire behind them...

_Dat's weird...Neva mind dat, Wheeler! You got a sista to save!_

Joey admonishes himself, shaking off the feeling as he gives Mai a "weirded-out" look and a shake of his head. He then trails that Kaiba guy off the plane, head first, plunging down into the mysteries of the Egyptian desert awaiting he and those below with hope for Serenity written on the winds sweeping across the ancient sands...


	17. Chapter 17

We do not own "Yu-Gi-Oh!" nor any of its characters.

**Chapter 17**

"We have arrived. Yugi, Tea, please follow me."

Ishizu instructs the fated pair and the rest of the group to follow her lead past the monstrous temple that had been turned into a tourist attraction. Its ornate golden statuettes and ivory stone pillars from millennia ago--pillaged and destroyed by fires and flames of wars long ago--yet still they stood majestically.

The three pyramids of crumbling rock and sandstone walls, ravaged by time, on the horizon were a definite reminder of the ancient glory the buildings once held in those days. The long forgotten era of Pharaohs and sorcerers were all the legend and legacy the powerful Pharaonic dynasties had left. That and the mysteries that were thus uncovered in numerous expeditions to unlock the secrets within the pharaohs tombs.

But the secrets of one Pharaoh in particular escaped his entombed grave. His indomitable spirit had miraculously stayed on beyond his time. He had waited 3000 years to merge with the boy whose soul he shared through a bond that would encompass eternity...

A miracle, whose magic and myth had only been glimpsed before, was what they were now all banking on to be performed again now. But this time in reverse, for the sake of an innocent soul.

A car or caravan of camels and horses was not necessary for the short trip to where Ishizu was leading them. Tea was trying to ignore the sand that had worked its way between her sandaled toes as she tries hard to keep up in her platform heels with the rest of the long-legged men in her entourage.

Well, all men, save for Ishizu--who was smart and wore slippers, not sandals, and Mai, who wore high heeled boots, so no problems there, and then there was...Rebecca.

"What's the matter, Tea? Can't keep up? Is the roiling heat and burning sands of an Egyptian expedition too much for a city slicker disco queen like you? I've been a member of sooo many archaeological digs with my grandfather, I've forgotten to count." Rebecca's voice goes all hoity-toity as she pauses in her eager little stride to take her own kind of "dig" at her least-favorite rival. She had all but stuck her tongue out at Tea's difficulty with the trek.

Tea's face turns red as she squeals aloud, about to burst at the stuck-up little----

"Perhaps it's because you've worn the wrong footwear for such a journey."

When Ryou's voice enters the little female tete-a-tete, the sparks between the two really start to fly. Rebecca's eyes shoot arrows at his next remark to her rival.

"I'll carry you the rest of the way if you'd like, Tea. It's the least a gentleman could offer..."

The pinkish glow on Ryou's cheeks from the desert heat, seems to reflect off the Millennium Ring tied around his neck. Both Tea and Rebecca's faces turn all shades of red themselves at Ryou's single kind offer.

Tea's was from embarrassed fluster while Rebecca's was from anger and pure jealousy.

"...Um...I...umm..." Tea feels strangely caught, like a deer in the headlights, between the glow of Ryou's warm brown eyes and Rebecca's red with fury on the other side. She wasn't sure what to think of the matter, when someone else, whose voice sends her reeling, takes this golden opportunity to step in.

"**I'll **carry Tea." Yugi states, more than offers. His thin, sinewy arms take hold of Tea and scoop her up, while his purple-eyed glare seemed to be threatening a bit at poor Ryou, who blinks innocently at his irked friend before Yugi stomps away with his claimed "prize".

"Yugi! That was so embarrassing! I---oh, just put me down!" Tea rasps out in a loud whisper, struggling against Yugi's grasp until he reluctantly puts her on the ground gently. Her emotions were just on overload from that display between two of her best friends, who were now giving each other that distant look, when she herself almost crashes into someone else.

"Hey! Watch where you're going, Tea, hon. And I thought I was the only one having "spaced out" problems today." Mai Valentine halts Tea's crash into her high-heeled mini-skirted body with a gloved hand. Tea giggles sheepishly at her tall blonde friend.

"Oh! Sorry, Mai! I just...have a lot on mind, you know?" Tea continues to glance at Yugi behind her as she speaks to Mai.

"Ohhhhh, boy troubles. Don't we all have those problems, girlfriend? Just stay cool and be yourself and enjoy the limelight for once! Consider yourself lucky!" Mai chuckles at her younger friend. She herself had one boy she had troubles with, but with Joey Wheeler---one was more than enough.

"Yeah...lucky me..." Tea's eyes rest upon Yugi's stunning dark features and her head was certain of what her heart already knew. "See you later, Mai." Tea throws back at her purple clad older confidante.

_To heck with the sand between my toes!_

Tea rushes back over to where Yugi was pacing. His glare at Ryou softens once it lands upon Tea's smiling face towards him.

"Tea, I'm sorry about before. I didn't mean to embarrass---" Yugi begins to apologize when Tea places a finger on his lips.

"Not another word about it, Yugi. I've got a job to do for Serenity. She needs us both now to focus on this mission. Besides--" Tea worms her arm around Yugi's slim but powerful one "--you should already know how I feel about you." Tea places a quick kiss on Yugi's cheek. The quirky smile that comes to his lips was proof enough for her to know that he felt the same way back.

"Are we there yet? I'm beginning to perspire..." The whiny voice was that of Maximillion Pegasus as he fans himself with his own frilly tie as he suddenly overdramatically pants from the exhausting hike across the sands.

"Maybe you're just getting too old for this." Kaiba shoots at his "father's..." complaints.

"Listen closely, Seto, I was doing this since you were in diapers. I know more about archaeology, the pyramids, and ancient Egyptian customs and magic than you can ever hope to imagine, my boy"

"All I want to know about this nonsense is how to make **her **better. That's all the "magic" I'm interested in discovering here in these stupid, old ruins." Kaiba growls back, belittling his surroundings as Ishizu beckons them to a spot near an excavation site leading to an underground stairway through a well hole like doorway entrance.

"Hush, Seto Kaiba! You have no idea what forces you are dealing with!" Ishizu berates the tall man as a waved hand instructs silent "bodyguard" Odion to remove the seal over the well entrance. Marik joins his burly brother, aiding him, as the pair carry off the weighty stone circle tablet covering, lowering it to the ground.

"Whew! Is it me or has that cover gotten heavier?" Marik comments idly from his plopped from exhaustion spot on the ground beside the carved well cover.

"It is you." Odion states emotionlessly as ever. He didn't mean to be cruel or cold, but only to speak the truth.

"We've really got to work on your conversational skills." Marik sighs. "Help me up." He extends his hand.

"Yes, Master Marik." Odion helps up his younger brother with what could be called a smile. Marik shakes his head at his unchangeable sibling and smiles back.

"We've opened it, Ishizu!" Marik calls back to his sister dutifully.

"Good work, my brothers. Everyone! Many secrets lie below." Ishizu announces mysteriously as she motions towards the ominous dark hole. Everyone pauses to peer down at its fiercesome ebony darkness.

"I'm going." Without a second thought, Kaiba begins his descent down the stairwell without an ounce of fear or reluctance---only determination.

"Hey! Wait up!" Joey was right on his heels, while everyone else glances at one another before they all begin to file in, down the stairwell, one by one...

The darkness of the underground city, that up until recently, the events of destiny had changed, was all the home the tombkeeper's family and their servants had ever known.

The scent that pervaded the entire underground catacombs was heavy, musty and ancient.

_Just like Yami's scent...I mean...Atem..._

Tea closes her eyes, intaking the deep rich aroma and sensing him all around again. The dimly lit hallways were abandoned now that the tombkeepers had been released---their life's work accomplished. The fated Pharaoh they had sought had come again and they had served him well, one final time, before he departed this world.

"What? Where are all the guards? Don't tell me you've fired them all, Ishizu! And they made such lovely statuettes! So lifelike." Pegasus inquires. He recalled walking these very same hallways before at Shadi's request.

_Speaking of which..._

"Hey! Did you see dat!" Joey's loud voice shrieks out. Kaiba feels decidedly deafened, and though attempting to keep a fair distance from Serenity's annoying brother, he was still struck by even being in the vicinity of Wheeler's noisy voice.

"What is it, Joey?" Yugi takes a protective step forward, ahead of the women, while a sheepish Ryou was taking up the rear.

"If you're sayin' dere ain't nobody on guard duty left here, den dere's definitely somebody up dere lightin' up dem lanterns! You see?" Joey once again lets out a scream of terror as a candle mysteriously lights, some tens of feet ahead of them, placed then on the lantern on the wall.

But there was no one in sight to claim responsibility for the task.

"Yes, this is the way. We are to follow. Please, trust me." Ishizu orders, ignoring Joey's spasmadic cries of fear in ghosts and wandering spirits. She had a clue as to the cause of their lighted pathway in a way only a woman in love would know and trust implicitly.

_I would follow you unto the ends of the earth if you lead me..._

Ishizu feels her own heart, dampened by fate, but still girlish, repeat the words of poetry she had once read and it resounded in her soul.

"Sister, is this the way to the Queen's sanctum?" Marik breaks into her subconscious thoughts, as if on purpose. He had grown a bit confused by all the turns and endless hallways where these damn lights were taking them.

"The Queen's sanctum... gulp ...you mean... gulp ...that place again?" Tea gulps down her fear. Bad memories came with mention of that place that were none too old. Silently, Yugi's hand slips into hers in the candlelit darkness, giving her his strength.

"There is nothing to fear now, Tea. You will soon be in the Queen's sanctum and we can only ask you to try---try to change destiny, once again." Ishizu theatrically cries out just as a pair of double doors open mysteriously before them, ask if welcoming them into the brightly lit golden shrine within.

_Destiny..._

Tea clutches the Pendant around her neck, feeling it begin to radiate and glow, as it reacts to the environment of her ancestor's own tomb. It was a place of golden light, its treasures still untouched, unblemished by human hands, hidden in its most secret lairs for over three long millennia...

"Come! Holders of the legendary Millennium Items. The time has come. This sacred place lives because of your energies. Come pool what remaining energy you have left so the keeper of the Millennium Pendant can unleash her ultimate powers once again." Shadi's biting monotone voice cuts through everyone's awed glances at the golden enshrinement to the Queen Teana. The ruler of the lands had obviously lavished upon his wife the finest in gold and gemstones. This was a sanctuary to her--a monument of his immense love for his Queen.

Shadi was the first to take his Millennium Key, walk over to Tea and touch the Millennium Pendant encircling her neck. Tea was shocked as both items glow when Shadi transfers the remainder of his Key's energy into Tea's Pendant. The Key then dims and drops down to his chest once again---but this time, entirely lifeless.

Yet the Pendant was decidedly brighter than the dull state of tarnished gold it had been just moments earlier.

"That is what each of you must do. Offer the remnants of your Item's energies to the Queen." Shadi huffs, obviously strained by giving what was left of his own fading Millennium energy as he looks to the others to follow his lead.

"Tea..." Ishizu's Necklace draws near to Tea, then when the fusion is complete, her stumbling, energy drained body is caught by Odion's strong arms. She smiles up at him and nods for him to offer his Scales.

He proceeds with reverence and Tea's Pendant grows more lively by the moment.

"Ooohh! What fun! My lady, do pardon my proximity." Pegasus seemed to enjoy holding his face next to Tea's by now, heaving chest. His one eye appeared to be wickedly looking down her shirt, while the other more golden one sacrifices all of its energies as he touches it to her Pendant.

"Not bad, Yugi-boy..."

Tea gasps as Pegasus quips out a giggle to Yugi as he passes by, giving the younger man a wink with his lit up right eye, though the left golden Eye was now dimmed.

"You dirty old man..." Kaiba grunts as he walks past, nodding for Marik to offer up the Rod next. Marik feels decidedly drained as he gives his all. The all-powerful Rod gives a two-pack punch as Kaiba, though still claiming this to be nonsense, gives his energies as well.

Tea shudders at the vast boost of power passed to her by the two "owners" of the already stunningly powerful Millennium Rod.

"...Almost! Yugi...help me! It's...too much!" Tea turns from where Ryou was about to hold out his Millennium Ring to her as she races straight into Yugi's arms.

"Tea!" Yugi cries out as she flings her arms around him. She had never before attempted to harness such massive amounts of power. Her body didn't feel as if she could withstand a single offering more. It already felt as if her head was about to explode while her heart beat so loudly in her ears.

_But Serenity needs me! Serenity is my friend... one of my best friends...but I can't----it's too much!_

"It's too much...Yugi, I'm sorry..." She whispers in Yugi's neck, while he holds her steady, stroking her hair.

"You can, Tea. You've done it before, remember? You can do it again." Yugi tries to be comforting.

"But, Yugi, there weren't so many people involved then! Not so many people depending on me. What if mess up? What if I---?" Tea begins to weep her inhibitions out, though only Yugi could hear her plaintive cries, her tears thrown on him.

"You won't mess up, Tea. I believe in you and...I'm here with you! I'll be right beside you all the way. Take my confidence, take my strength. Always---I'll give to you everything, for all time!" And with that, Yugi gives her his vast energies. The Millennium Puzzle around his neck started to glow of its own accord. Her Pendant and his Puzzle clanged together in their embrace.

Tea closes her eyes, **feeling** the power of her Pendant enhanced especially by his Puzzle. It echoed through her heart, along with the need to save Serenity. The love for this one girl whose soul, in her innocent way, had touched so many others gave them all hope...

"Tea! Take our energy, too! To help Serenity!" Though neither Joey nor Mai owned a Millennium Item, they each had a burning energy of love for Serenity that rivaled the ambient powers of the ancient magical items.

Love had a magic and power all its own, as a light unmatched in its radiance explodes around Tea's body. She generated so much power from the collected Millennium Items that she is able to release her own Item's potential.

Every person who had offered their energies up to her Pendant was sucked into its light---Joey and Mai included. For Tea had heard Serenity's brother's heartfelt plea and Mai's as well, through all the chaos raging within her, and Tea could not ignore her friends.

She could not let Joey down. She could not let everyone who loved that sweet little girl down.

_Including me...For you, Serenity...Our consciousness will traverse time and space, and save you from that destiny!_

The adorably cute face of Serenity Wheeler passes through every one of these soul traveller's minds via Tea. She grasps her hands out through the threads of time streaming around her. She begs for help from the friends alongside her.

Shadi and Ishizu's deep knowledge of the past's role in the future; Odion and Marik's subservience and willingness to help; Joey and Mai's sense of family and love for the girl; Pegasus' guilt and depth of regret; and finally, Kaiba's love...

Kaiba's unmeasurable love.

And then there was Yugi---her own constant companion. He was the owner of her heart, her soul---the other half of Tea that never left her to be alone.

"This is the one, Tea. Don't you see it calling? This is the doorway to that time." Yugi's tender voice guides her. His deep soul sensed which streaming thread of time led to which gateway---a time, it seemed, to which he had already been.

He had been, in a way, they all were once...

But this time, destiny would be changed. A fire burned in each of these travellers who wished to save a life of such purity--such innocence, that they are each willing to risk it all and give of themselves.

Some for duty and righteousness; some for justice in an unfair world; and some for love...

Tea closes her eyes, reaching for that golden thread--that once pulled---opens time's doorway...


	18. Chapter 18

We do not own "Yu-Gi-Oh!" nor any of its characters.

**Chapter 18**

When Tea opens her eyes again, she thinks she is dreaming. Eyes flutter open to view an impressively expansive room. Sculptures and golden caricatures adorn every golden webbed wall. Statuettes and delicately painted figurines and models of gold and clay line the finely hand carved ivory and gold laced furniture.

Never had Tea seen such opulent richness and she was laying right in the midst of it. Amidst sheets of pure silks, draped canopies doming over the largest, most plush bed she had ever laid upon.

As she tries to get a hold of herself and her surroundings in the groggy state she awakened in, she is suddenly aware as she scans the volumes of pure silken ivory sheets and pillows strewn across the monstrous king-size bed that she was not alone in it.

_Who!_

Tea doesn't feel as shocked nor frightened as she would have been if it were not Yugi Motou laying there beside her, sound asleep on the bed. She had had quite a few fantasies about her and this certain young man...

_Well, a girl can fantascize, can't she?_

Tea smiles in guilt at her own naughty thoughts. She was sure this was a dream now in her dazed wonderment, until she notices how very tan her bare arms were.

_Did I lay out on the beach for a tan this perfect? _

Tea wonders to herself as she lifts the sheet up to peek under at the rest of her tanline, when her eyes bulge out upon seeing her stark, totally naked body under there.

_That could be why I'm feeling so ch-chilly...But why am I feeling so..._

Tea can't quite place a finger on what the tingling feeling her body was giving her. She lifted the sheet up again to get a better glimpse on her rather bustier and more womanly form than what she had seen last in her mirror at home.

Long, long dewy tanned legs gleamed up at her rather conceited and proud eyes. Her eyes were so awed with her new figure to even notice that of the equally naked man laying rather closely beside her.

The gorgeous frame of a slender man who was laying there openly, for all of Tea's greedy eyes to see. He was absolutely more perfect than even a girl's fantasies could imagine. And the muscular chest and arms that were connected to the body...

_Ohhh..._

"EEEEEEEEEEEKKKKKK!"

The conservative little female in Tea couldn't help but squeak out when she puts two and two together as to why both she and Yugi were laying there, naked, in bed...together.

"What?...Tea, are you...?"

Yugi's eyes snap open upon hearing her fearful squeak. He jumps up into a protective sitting position, knocking the sheets off from both of them. Yugi's eyes do a double take as they pop open in as much shock as Tea's. His large eyes grow even larger as they take in the view. His stunned gaze soaks up every detail of her womanly body that was so close he could touch...

**"YUGI!"  
"TEA!"**

They both scream one another's name out as each wildly reach for stray sheets or clothing to cover their already bared souls. Both faces turn a violent shade of red as they realize what they had never seen before revealed so plainly and shockingly and they try to avert their eyes in guilt.

"Yu-yu-yugi?" Tea's voice comes out so high and soprano-esque, though her back was still turned to his in embarrassment.

"Yes...Tea?" His back was to her as well, as Yugi replies with as much timidity. His mind tried desperately to calm this body from Tea's visual aid.

"If this isn't a dream, we must've suc-successfully transferred our souls through time, right?" Tea's brain starts to kick in, despite her shock---pleasant though it may have been.

"You're right. We're here in Atem and Teana's bodies." Yugi follows her drift as he faces her, then quickly averts again.

"So---we're them...kind of...So that means we must be ma--marr--" Tea tries to form the sentence but it was escaping her right now.

"...Married, you mean?" Yugi seems to get over his embarrassment faster than Tea and he no longer looked away as he leans over to Tea's side of the monstrous bed. He scoops up a tossed over the side garment and hands it to her.

"Here's your wrap, my Queen." He whispers proudly, with a little chuckle. His eyes scan her, and Tea overcomes her feelings of humiliation in his overconfident eyes, and hugs him, despite their nakedness.

She giggles and cries in relief at the same time, just glad to have made it here and to be alive.

And boy was she alive! Tea revels being in Yugi's arms at last...

_Bumpity, bumpity, bumpity---bump!_

Joey Wheeler had never had quite so an intensely real dream. Well, not since the last time he'd had a little too much to drink after hours at his work's bar. His head swam with fantasies of a certain blonde bartender, mixed with the drink she had served him and the pounding hangover that was his only greeting the following morning.

_Bumpity bump!_

"Owww! Hey, watch where you're going, bub!" Joey's non-New York accent was almost as much as shock as he rubs his sore bottom to look for the brute of a guy he thought he'd bumped into still close by.

_Big jerk's got never not apologizin' to me for bumpin' into me so rudely! What'd I expect from such a lummox anyway! Judgin' from the way he smells, too! Sheesh! Smelly and...hairy...Huh?_

Joey's disoriented eyes flicker open at the strange tactile feelings greeting both his palms and nose. Once opened fully, the wild teenager suddenly realizes that his new hairy "buddy" wasn't even human, but rather a white stallion that he was saddled upon.

The horse only whinnies and shouts a rebellious reply to his groggy-eyed rider, giving Joey a few extra bounces up and down as his own form of a wake-up call.

"What the heck am I doing on a horse!" Joey cries out in astonishment. He had never before ridden one, let alone this wild-eyed Arabian beast who obviously had it in for him.

The horse shows his annoyance with a roaring buck that Joey just manages to hold onto dear life with...

"Whoa! Boy! I was just kiddin'! Nice horsey! Nice horse-----yyyyyyy!"

Joey frantically waves his arms at the group of foreign, strangely dressed men who were successfully corraling their steeds into the stable that he and he crazed stallion were intending to join as well.

All the men on the grounds mouths hang open in shocked surprise as their fearless "leader" goes shrieking and snivelling past in terror of his animal.

"What's gotten into Captain Jono, Tobin? Has he gone crazy?" One dark-skinned Egyptian guard who strangely resembled Duke Devlin, asks his comrade.

"Must be at the drink again, Deuel." The other, very Tristan-esque in appearance, shakes his head. Both chuckle at their "esteemed" captain of the Pharaoh's guard.

"AHHHHHHHH! Somebody get me offa this pony!" Joey screams as the vengeful "pony" takes him for a ride, not taking too kindly to being ridiculed and disrespected, as the proud steed races his "master" ragged. Even the angered horse, blindly enraged, did not think about where he was going until he was too far outside the city limits to recognize the way back.

The horse stops, forgoing his hissy fit for uncertainty as he looks around his new surroundings.

"So, you finally decided to listen to me, huh?" Joey puffs up. His pride forgetting the scaredy screams of just moments earlier. He was now "in charge" of this situation entirely.

_No dumb beast will ever outsmart me! Hmph!_

"So where'd you take us to, boy? Better question---do you know the way back to whereever we came from?" Joey speaks to the horse he was astride with doubt in his voice as both he and his steed cautiously canter towards the only edifice dotting their dizzying trip, on the horizon.

"Where the heck am I anyway?" All else around him was sand and a sun streaked empty sky for landscape.

"I think we're not in Kansas anymore, Toto..." Joey whispers to himself as the white horse neighs in agreement and they continue to walk forward into the unknown...

"Yami! You stop that, right now!"

A very high-pitched female voice comes from the hallway just outside the palace bedroom doors and it causes both Tea and Yugi to jump away from each other in guilt--pure and simple.

Tea's big eyes quickly take the chance to swivel her reddened face and pull on the offered wrap Yugi had so gentlemanly laid upon her lap.

A protective look in his eye, Yugi somehow manages to tie a small sheet around his waist for a loincloth like effect as he swiftly exits the bed, attempting to stand to face whoever was thundering towards the bedroom door.

Perhaps 'thundering' wasn't quite the correct word for such a little thundercloud as a tiny child comes scampering into the Pharaoh's chamber as if he had not a care in the world, nor any form of respect for his ruler, his king.

The small boy who was no more than two years of age races right past Yugi's somewhat puzzled stance and hops right onto the bed, crawling over to Tea. What couldn't be more than two milliseconds later, had his teeny arms wrapped around her and gives her a pleading tug, along with a pair of begging eyes.

Eyes which were a brilliant shade of violet plum so striking, that Tea couldn't break her gaze as Yugi, despite his temporary loincloth, strides around the expansive bed to the side where this tender scene between Tea and the mysterious babe was taking place.

Tea finally looks away into Yugi's equally puzzled eyes at the sudden, bold child bursting into the Pharaoh and his Queen's bedchamber. The thought didn't even take shape in their minds until----

"Yami! You bad little prince! Tell me you didn't just run into the Pharaoh's chambers! Yami! Are you hiding in there!"

That same girlish voice was now a whispering scold, as if she was afraid to enter the rooms herself, but peered in nonetheless in search of her naughty charge. The cracked open door creaks open even further to reveal a familiar face before them both.

"Mana! It is you! Don't be afraid. Come in, please." Yugi had forgotten his half-undressed state in front of his Dark Magician Girl card now come to life. But it was too late.

Her bubbly face and contagious smile scamper in and her at first lowered eyes, meet Yugi's and come alive at his kind voice and familiar address at her name. She childishly grasps Yugi's shocked shoulders in a quick hug as he clutches onto his makeshift loincloth for dear life.

"Oh, Prince! Thank you so much for letting me watch little Yami! He really is your namesake! I love him so much---to death! Right off, even if he drives me crazy! Barging right into other people's bedrooms like this! With all the celebration of the coronation ceremonies over and the troubles we've been having in the kingdom now, you must be exhausted! Imagine the King and Queen awakened so early! Yami! You naughty boy!" Mana giggles and her cheeks turn rosy through her teasing reprimand at the toddler whose face was now buried in Tea's chest, comfortably nuzzling the Queen's soft bust, as if expecting something.

Tea was too busy with the child to give any sign of proper jealousy at the girl hugging her Yugi.

"I'm soooo glad you brought this angel here to me, even if he's bad sometimes! I love Yami soo soo much!" She gives the little boy a hug.

"Yami?"

Both Yugi and Tea mouth the oh-so-familiar nickname from the past over the baby boy and servant girl's heads to one another's questioning and suspicious eyes.

"And I've already told him 'no' my Queen, but your little prince still enjoys his milk feeding in the morning from his mama!" Mana innocently speaks her mind, never considering that Queen Teana would grow so pale at the mention of breastfeeding her adored little baby son in front of her beloved husband--the Pharaoh.

"Mama...?" Tea gulps, looking down at the wriggling bundle's cutest face, squiggling on her lap. Her embarrassed eyes plead with Yugi to do something about this whole confusing situation.

Little Yami obviously followed his mother's gaze.

"Da da!"

The sweet voiced toddler grins and gurgles up at Yugi. His arms stretch out to his other parent with a big, loving laugh at his adored...daddy's...funny clothing at the moment.

"...Da...da..." Yugi bites his lower lip, blushing violently, silently demanding of Atem as to why he never informed him of this latest addition to his family of the past.

But the replies no longer came.

"Here, your majesty, let me help you with him! He's so eager." Mana says helpfully as she begins to undress Tea from her wrap to allow the baby access. The future Pharaoh-to-be already knew what to do, though his poor "mama" hadn't the slightest inkling in the least.

"I'll...ummm... ahem ...go get changed..." Yugi coughs and ahems his red-faced self right out of the room. Neither he nor Tea, now thrown into Atem and Teana's bodies, never imagined that they'd be parents before their time quite like this. Yet Yugi's eyes can't help but smile with pride as he flees the scene.


	19. Chapter 19

We do not own "Yu-Gi-Oh!" nor any of its characters.

**Chapter 19**

A montage of voices in tongues she had never heard before call Mai Valentine into semi-consciousness. Worse yet, those voices seemed to be chanting all around her words that were both demanding and fearful at the same time. If only she could understand what they were trying to ask of her...

"...tpei rdi ib baabg khenemet...iri...ka..."

"...tpei rdi bi baabg khenemet..."

Over and over the chants were almost as dizzying as the thick scent of burning incense mixed with the heavy stench of smoke by torched flame. Mai felt faint and weak against the subdued dark atmosphere--and yet, there was the burning drive to fight for consciousness, for life, for victory, that the duelist in Mai Valentine had maintained through experience.

"...give your heart, divulge secrets, you who are joined, create soul..."

As Mai's eyes snap open, so does her comprehension of the murmurs around her. She had no idea how she could ever possibly know what these strange voices in a language she'd never heard before were saying. But soon, the novelty of that realization wears off the second she opens her cloudy eyes---

And finds her arms and legs bound and shackled to a stone altar on which she was laying flat on her back.

"What the hell are you jerks doing! Let me up--RIGHT NOW!"

In strong language all her own, Mai screams out in her most authoritive voice as she struggles and kicks against the ropes and chains tying her down to the table.

The bunch of hooded geezers in robes circling the altar only continue to chant incessantly. Darkness was all around the eerie cavelike place; only dotted with a few lit torches hanging nearby, and sparse lamps they were alighting.

"Hey! Did you hear what I SAID! This is illegal! I demand you contact my government's embassy! I can SUE for this! Get me down from here! Untie me AT ONCE! Who are you people anyway! What do you want with me!"

Mai shrieks in her toughest voice at the hooded man walking close to her. She groans in frustration as the dark-skinned man merely looks at her before continuing his silly rhythmatic pacing around the table in some weird circular formation with the rest of his "gang."

"...give your heart, divulge secrets, you who are joined, create soul..."

"...give your heart, divulge secrets, you who are joined, create soul..."

"...give your heart, divulge secrets, you who are joined, create soul..."

"HEY! You had BETTER listen to me!" Mai is just about to let off another volley of sarcasm and insults and empty threats when the entire dark room goes deathly silent.

_Why did all these ugly worms just shut up...What's going on here!_

They all stood in place as if frozen in fear to even breathe out loud.

"Now that's better." Mai takes the sadistic group's fearful silence and pause as a sign that they had finally gotten it through their thick skulls as to who was really boss here. Mai's chest puffs up in the knowledge that she still had it in her to scare any man enough to wet his pants, just by the tenor of her voice.

"Now, you jerks will---" Mai begins to bark out her order to undo her bonds and let her down from the table when one particularly dark, particularly ugly bearded old man finishes lighting one last lamp displayed around the altar, surrounding Mai in some kind of ancient symbolic fashion.

He then pulls his hood down as his Egyptian face sneers at her malevolently. Mai shudders at the look of pure evil burning in those black eyes as if he was possessed by the devil himself...

"We will offer up this sacrifice of the Red Eyed Black Dragon to the gods and they will grant us all of her power!" He says as his semi-toothless smile grows, glaring down at Mai's prone, vulnerable body.

"Sacrifice! Red Eyes-Black Dragon? That's a Duel Monsters card! What does any of this have to do with ME!" Mai screams out in her loudest cry as she watches in horror the group of dark men edge closer towards her. Each of them produces a dagger gleaming in the candlelight, foretelling her imminent doom...

Mai's eyes turn from each menacing face. Her focus lands straight up in the air at the high vaulted ceiling above where a stone carving of Joey Wheeler's favorite Duel Monster was displayed in all of its red-eyed fury.

"JOEY! SAVE ME!"

Mai screeches out so loudly that her last final plea echoes frantically, travelling like wildfire throughout this so-called temple of flame...

_Minutes earlier..._

If there was anything Joey Wheeler prided himself on, besides his dashing good looks, winning sense of humor, utmost honor--all amidst other good stuff, it was his uncanny penchant for luck and good fortune in the most adverse of times.

Unfortunately, as he treads through the darkened ruins of what must have been a temple, Joey begins to wonder if his trademark good fortune was wearing thin.

"What dya think, 'Trigga'? Ain't nobody at home in this broken hole to even ask directions through this freaky dream of mine, is there?" Joey wasn't too swift when it came to the brains department to consider what happened to his clothes, his voice---heck, his reality! This from a guy who was talking to a horse who happened to be his only too-willing companion, tromping lost through temple ruins.

_Trigga was too spooked to stay outside by himself in that creepy place anyway...Right, Trigga?_

"Hey! Don't snort at me! I wouldn't even be here if you didn't get mad and drag us into this mess, you stupid horse!"

"Well...I guess we'd better get goin'...Hey! Did you hear that? Sounds like somebody's...singin'? Nah...Lady luck wouldn't be singin' to me down here." Joey idly comments to himself as he leans his head deeper down the decrepit hallway. He had an itchy feeling that someone was calling to him from down there---someone he knew--someone who needed him...right now!

"MAI! I'd know that yell anywhere! Trigga! Step on it!"

Like an action hero of some old western, Joey leaps on his steed's noble back. It does as commanded for once and speeds off, full throttle into the darkness ahead. A woman's faint scream was growing louder and louder until both the horse's hooves and Joey's heart were pounding, just about ready to break, as they race with the clock. Joey directs the horse blindly down the roadmap that he was sure led to the other half of his soul...

"JOEY! AHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!"

Mai buys herself a few more precious seconds as the sheer force of her screams and shrieks cause the men in black to take some steps backwards. Mai didn't care if her lungs exploded. She didn't care about anything but staying alive.

Mai was the only one who didn't notice the intensity of torches flaring up and rising as if to match her soul scream, while the fear grows in her captors dark eyes, as fire and flame threaten to envelop them.

Like a night in shining armor (or at least some Roy Rogers type cowboy), Joey and his pure white steed come bounding in the sacrificial room. The already frightened cloaked men back away at our "hero's" shocking entrance. Joey and his valiant steed cared not for what hoodlums they ran down.

_Besides, this horsey's got no breaks!_

He races the horse straight through the horde of robed clowns, heading right for the altar. Once there, like a true hero, he barely halts his steed and draws a long, broad sword that he somehow knew was sheathed at his side. He brings it down sharply on the chains and ropes, one by one, that bound Mai's body to the table, cutting her free.

"...Joey...?" Mai weakly opens her eyes. The fear for her life and the utter strain of...something...deep inside that she felt she almost unleashed, had drained her entirely. Joey leans down and scoops her up in his arms against the murmurs and eyes watching them as he cradles his girlfriend in strong arms, high upon 'Trigger's' back.

Joey, nor the horse, needed an invitation to take off as smoke fills the rooms behind them. The fire that had flared up began to overtake the remainder of the ruined temple. What was left of it now went up in flames. The dark men scream as they scatter into dark corners--their mission failed.

"The Red Eyed beast is awakening! All encompassing power belongs to he who controls her! She is awakening!"

Mai Valentine's eyes flutter open momentarily as she leans her head against her rescuer's broad chest. It was a familiar one and comforting to her, as they gallop towards the city. The dark of night concealed the now decidedly red shade of her once purple eyes...

"Master! Honored Master! We throw ourselves at your mercy! Forgive! Forgive!" The reverentially whispered voice comes to him as if in staggered slow motion. Maximillion Pegasus had often succumbed to a bit much wine during late night art sessions and awakened to moments of delirium similar to this; however, something about this delusion wasn't quite right though Pegasus couldn't put his artful finger on just why...

Unconsciously, he brings his groggy hand to push the silvery strands of stray hair from his face. This action caused his digits to land upon the reason for it all, staring him right in the face. Pegasus' fingers slowly cascade over the all too familiar cold metallic touch adorning his confused face.

_The Eye..._

"Forgive you? For what, my friend?" Pegasus begins to shake his dizzy head. He, or was it his Millennium Eye, automatically delves into the dark man's dark head beneath the dark hooded cloak to discover the source of his endless apologies that so rudely awakened this rich man from his slumber.

_Why do I feel soooo tired and worn anyway?_

Pegasus queries to himself as his mind reaches out to the blubbering man's mind--just for a quick scan...

But the minute his mind connects with the other's, Pegasus wishes he was back asleep again. The dark depths of evil, greed and malice traced the empty cavern of this lackey's mind. It was both boggling and exhausting as Pegasus attempts to make sense of the crazed twists and turns of this one man.

_You couldn't capture the soul...of the...Red Eyes, Black Dragon! Tonight?...She got away...Why do you want her? Ohhhh, it's all part of-----a plot to kill the Pharaoh! That's right! We're in Ancient Egypt...I remember now...This time travelling by mind gives me SUCH jet lag...Ah...The Sorcerer Heishin is up to his old schemes...working with this Aknadin person to overwhelm the kingdom. Who IS this 'Aknadin'...why does he seem soo familiar...and what does all of this have to do with that sweet little girl and my son? I wonder where they are anyway..._

Pegasus idly disconnects his mind scan from the now fainted man on the floor. Maximillion wonders so many questions that were now brought up, rather than answered. He stands and finds his body strangely aching from the dark repose he had been in. He walks to the eerie stone room's window, gazing out as the moonlight shines down on his body.

_When did my lovely artist hands become so coarse and rough? Just look at how BIG they seem...Oh, that will NEVER do. Oh well, let me see what time has done with the rest of me; popping into someone's else's body...I wonder...I do hope I haven't lost my stunning good looks..._

The vain man in Pegasus, despite his aches and pains, rushes over to a table where a silver tray was lying. He quickly brushes off the cups and goblets and lifts the platelet up to his face near the window, under the moonlight.

"...Ohhhhhhhhhhh, you're soooooo hideous! Noooooooo! Where's my beautiful face? My lovely hair? My stunning eye...What did you do with them! PLEASE say this is not my direct ancestor from Ancient Egypt? PLEASE say this is not my 'other me' who is so old, ugly and decrepit! I'm going to close my eyes and count to...let's see...ten...and then, he'll go away!"

Pegasus mutters and whispers under his breath a childish prayer; closing and then opening his one eye---

_Oh, that's all I have---silly me!_

---to peer at his reflection in the makeshift mirror.

"Oh no! He's still there!" Pegasus cringes, dropping the silver platter which clatters to the ground as he buries the melodramatic face not his own, in hands not his own. A few seconds later of grieving his good looks, the soul still within Maximillion Pegasus stirs from within, despite the blemished exterior.

"Oh well, this is definitely just a TEMPORARY setback. I'll be back to being pretty me again in NO time! Won't I, Cecelia, my love? Ooh, wait, don't look at me when I'm like this! Poor, poor beautiful me..."

Pegasus calms his soul down by calling upon his beloved wife's presence to give him her strength and guidance throughout all time.

"After all, we have a mission to accomplish. You tell me that I can do, and so I can---I must! For you, Cecelia...for our son. I will find some way to change that girl's destiny."

Pegasus lets the moonlight now wash over Aknadin's body, begging for her inspiration to come over his weak soul.

"...Even if I must do it wearing this most inimical of faces. Ah well, thank goodness, these looks take a dramatic turn for the better three millennia from now...Hee hee hee...Ooh, I feel so evil in your body, Ugly Me. No wonder you had such a bad streak---oooh that face in the morning---Yuck, yuck, yucky!"

"...So, where are you, my boy? I hope for your sake that the ancient body you're in is more pleasant than mine..." Pegasus complains as he pulls himself together, leaving the room he was in back to its quiet darkness as he traipses through the palace's halls...


	20. Chapter 20

We do not own "Yu-Gi-Oh!" nor any of its characters.

**Chapter 20**

He was, by nature, a night owl. The kind of man whose busy, complicated mind never shut down like most normal human beings, even in times of much needed rest and relaxation.

No, Seto Kaiba was a deep thinker---an incomparable genius, an intelligent marvel--in his own right. He was a force to be reckoned with for one reason and one reason alone.

His indomitable spirit never capitulated to anything but to achieve his supreme best in each and every situation. And that spirit made him one of those rare fighters who could change the world in his powerful hands alone, if he just thought about it long and hard enough.

So that's why his mind that never shuts down, could, only rarely on occasion, succumb to the mundane, time consuming annoyance that was sleep, even when the entire world around him was indulging in sweet rest.

It seemed that his "other me" felt the same way entirely as Seto realizes his consciousness in another's body almost immediately. His swift brain kept up with the whole soul-swapping, time travel stuff, as if it were old hat.

_Nah, I'm just a genius who can adapt to anything. Ha..._

But Seto wasn't smiling despite his quip as he opens his eyes. The eyes that were filled with determination take in first, as expected, his own dark features and secondly, as expected, his decidedly Egyptian surroundings--ancient ones at that, as expected, yet again.

Kaiba notes the old-fashioned torches, the dank, cold dark room and the stone walls sprinkled with carvings of various creatures and depictions, along with that wedjat eye dotting nearly every glyphic.

_Yeah, this is ancient Egypt. Creepy old place..._

Nothing surprised him anymore as Seto gives a sideways smirk and his tanned hands, unperturbed by the time differentiation, easily thumb through the pile of thin stone tablets on what could only be called a desk, with various writing "tools" all about it.

"I wonder if any of these 'papers' have any clue on how to stop my---Seth's---father, Aknadin...from harming Seren---that White Dragon woman...I've been here before and I don't need Shadi or Ishizu or those other Egyptian psychos to tell me what they had in mind when they suggested bringing us here. Destiny? Hah! I rewrite my own destiny every day. And I'll start by stopping Seth's weasly father from coming near Kisara. She must have a connection of some sort to...Serenity..."

_Serenity...I will save you..._

Seto leans his head into his hands momentarily, still feeling Serenity's body being pulled away from his grasp as their souls were flung through time.

"Still pouring over your desk at work?" A vaguely familiar voice enters the dimly lit room unannounced, startling Seto, who jumps immediately to his feet to see who the stranger is.

"Who?"

Seto's eyes in his dark face slit, trying to glimpse whoever was coming through the smoky darkness.

"All work and no play make Seto a dull boy!" That's all the man's voice says but the way it was said was enough for Seto to know who it is, despite the new gruffness in it. It was still **him.**

"Pegasus..." Kaiba growls his name. "Stop lurking in the shadows and help me find Serenity. We have to keep her away from Seth's evil maniac of a...father..." Kaiba's eyebrows furrow as 'Pegasus' steps into the light, enough for Kaiba to see fully just who he was talking to.

"Now, Seto, is that any way to talk to your 'daddy'? Hmm?" Pegasus teases stroking his own silvery, and distasteful, beard slowly.

Placing his hands on Aknadin's tall shoulders, Kaiba grips the man, examining his face before uttering another words. The features were old and dark. The frame was too aged, while the moustache didn't quite fit and the voice was a semi-tone lower and gruffer. However---both the Millennium Eye in the left and the teasing glint within that of the right eye was proof enough for Seto Kaiba. It was a feeling of hope and dread, intermixed equally.

"This is Maximillion Pegasus in there, right?" Kaiba's discerning mind puts it all together, stating more than asking.

"In the...uh...**soul.**...as it were, my boy." Pegasus' smarmy, reassuring smile at him clinches it for Kaiba.

"Great. You're Aknadin. The guy I have to kill to save Serenity. It should be a whole lot easier to do now that I know it's you, Pegasus." Kaiba gives his own brand of teasing back. He lets go of his "father's" (both of them) shoulders dismissively, and turns back to the desk, placing his tall hat onto his head. "And since you're him, you should know exactly where you've been keeping Kisara captive. Also, you have the key to let her out. Right, old man?" Kaiba rattles out orders as he puts his caped outfit together and makes for the door, expecting Pegasus to be right on his heels.

"...Ummm...what key...? To what prison...are you speaking of...son...? It seems this old noggin is not responding to your verbal commands Is this 'Aknadin' individual suffering from any sort of senility or mental disease, perchance?" Pegasus conks his head with his palm, a silly, doofy look on his elderly face. He puts his hands up in the air before Seto. This act was all maddening to the young man.

"You've GOT to be kidding me. You are so lost a cause." Kaiba was growling, literally.

"Yes, I guess we both are now. YOU don't remember what your host body was doing either before we got here, do you, hmmm? So don't blame me." The bantering goes back and forth. Kaiba rolls his eyes at his 'father's' idiocy as he tries to move as quickly as possible, despite his antics.

"Come on, old man. Serenity needs me. Move it." Kaiba throws over his shoulder.

Pegasus nearly trips in his long robe.

The putrid smells of the horses and camels that resided within the barnlike structure mixed with the sweet scent of fresh hay and grass that was their feed as the passed out form of a dark boy's nostrils fill with it.

He comes to with the stench and dirt engulfing his face down body in the filthy muddy hay. Marik Ishtar, in all of his spoiledness, had never--ever--allowed himself to wallow in dirt and mud so disrespectfully. His mind rejected what filth his body was in the state of. For Marik, a young man who considered his body a sacred temple, this was just too unacceptable.

Standing up, Marik runs his soiled hands through his wet hair. He was disgusted by the mud that oozes between his fingers from his mud encrusted platinum locks.

_Not the hair! Agh..._

Marik's angry-at-the-world face cringes at the thought of being so dirty when his sensitive ears pick up a strange sound coming from the hayloft directly above.

"Who goes there? Show yourself at once!" The angry man in Marik showed itself from time to time in his bad temper, which was especially bad now that he was filthy, as he shouts across the barn so fiercely, he causes quite a few horses to whinny and stir within their stalls, frightened.

But the true culprit of the sounds wasn't easily scared, despite his measly size. He was a small boy, no more than ten or twelve, who emerges from behind the haystacks in the upper loft, snickering and laughing, until he was nearly doubled over in pure, unadulterated cackling ridicule.

"...So funny! You should've seen the look on your face, Ishtar! When I overturned that ol' barrel of mud onto you! It was priceless to see your 'beautiful' flaxen locks get all black and muddy! Just look at you! You're a riot!" The youthful voice of a small boy cackles. His mini frame cracked up as he slaps his thighs, enjoying his friend's discomfort far too much as he leans slightly over the edge, pointing at Marik's muddy hair.

"I'll show you a riot, you little worm!" Marik growls. He didn't care one bit for practical jokes or teasing that friends often indulged in, especially since he had no friends to speak of.

In an athletic jump upwards, he swings on the rafters and Marik's still lean, muscular body does a double spinning leap up. He lands on his feet, of course, directly behind the juvenile delinquent who had caused this whole smelly mudfest out of some sick stretch of humor.

Marik angrily grabs the shocked boy's shirt by the back. His wiry arms pick the small child up easily and hold him teetering, over the edge, in a threat to drop.

"Hey! What are you doing! Namu! Look! I'm sorry. I didn't mean it about your hair! Realllllly! Namu, buddies aren't supposed to get so mad! We always joke around like this! What's gotten into you! Heyyyyy!"

The boy's dark hair and dark features dangle loosely over the edge as Marik shakes the heck out of him as punishment for wronging him.

_Namu...?_

Marik lets the red fury of anger and revenge slip from his eyes. He notices for the first time since this whole mess started how uncannily similar this little imp was to Seto Kaiba's little brother, Mokuba.

In fact, the resemblance was startling. The voice, the hair---if Marik wasn't so sure of where and **when** he was, he would've sworn it was indeed the Kaiba Corp CEO's younger brother.

"Mokuba? What are you doing here?" Trying it out, his voice gets a strain lighter as he sets the boy's dangling feet back down on the loft's firm floor. He considered that Kaiba's brother wasn't present when the time travel began that day.

"Mo..ku..ba...? I didn't hit you with the barrel lid, did I, Namu? You're sure acting weird today. You don't usually get so angry." As if nothing else out of the ordinary occurred moments ago, the dark skinned Mokuba-lookalike plops down on his bottom to the floor. He gazes up at his best friend as if he'd gone nuts.

"You called me 'Namu' before..." Marik questions, sitting beside the youngster with a look of curiosity on his exotic face.

"Yeah, you're Namu Ishtar and I'm Kubarin. We're the city's finest 'street rats'! Sheesh! I really must've smacked you hard with something in that mud." The small boy comments, gazing at his wide-eyed buddy's obvious memory loss as he examines the muddy head for any bumps or injury to his brain.

"Ick! That mud's really stinky! Now I'm sorry I dumped it on you. After all, we share a bed back behind that lodge! Yech! Let's get you to the river and wash you off. Peeyew! Come on, Namu. Gotta get you cleaned up! We gotta job to do tonight. Can't let the boss see you like this, or smell you for that matter." Kubarin leads his muddy friend down from the loft by rope and out the back exit. He races with him towards the river, not too far away.

"...The boss?...Namu Ishtar...? I can't really be soul mates with him, can I?" Marik mumbles in astonishment to himself the questions. His mind races faster than his youthful companions legs as he considers the name the boy had said.

_Namu Ishtar...I took his name once before, because he was the first tombkeeper!_

Marik gasps. It was hard for him to accept that this dirty, dingy youth he was inhabiting the body of right now, would one day become the founder in a line of guardians that spanned millennia...


	21. Chapter 21

We do not own "Yu-Gi-Oh!" nor any of its characters.

**Chapter 21**

_Knock knock knock_

"...ummm...may I...come in...Master? Mahad...? I mean...can we...speak...? Teacher?" The girl's tentative strains could've told any fool of what her feelings towards the tall, dark man seated at his workshop bench experimenting with various tinctures and elements at his disposal within this, his underground palace laboratory.

Any fool perhaps would've easily seen that Mana was in love with him. But not this oblivious sorcerer, whose sole focus was his duty to the Pharaoh and spells he would conjure to protect the kingdom.

_Why the knock today? What now, Mana?_

"Enter."

Mana carefully opens and scoots into the doorway at his one word command. She just as carefully attempts to close it without making so much as one peep of sound to disturb her adored tutor in the magical arts as she so often did. sigh And usually got her ear chewed off for it, too.

"...Ummm..." It's all the lovestruck girl could manage to sputter out. She was so awed whenever she was in Mahad's presence, nowadays more than ever, especially when he was so handsome against the dark room's dim lighting.

"Yes, Mana, speak." He commands again, simply, never turning to face her. This was good because Mana's face, at the mere sound of his voice, always turned her a variant shade of red instantly. She had more than just a crush on her older mentor.

"Master Mahad...I hope I'm not bothering you. I was only...wondering..." She pauses for what seemed like an eternity as his dark eyes fall on her questioningly.

"...Yes?" He prompts her, totally unaware of his young protege's feelings towards him. He was always too busy with duty to notice the little girl who was continually at his side.

"...wondering..." Mana wishes she could hide her head in her hat. She was so embarrassed as she feels the red blush crawl up her back, through her neck and up until her cheeks were a rosy pink, even on tanned skin.

"..Wondering...?" Mahad's patience was longer when he spoke to Mana but even that, for a busy minded alchemist was wearing thin quickly as his deep eyes slit even further at her blank expression up at him.

"I-was-wondering-if-the-Pharaoh-and-the-Queen-seem-to-be-acting-strange-to-you-today."

It all comes out in one big splat. Mana was relieved to have gotten out the whole entire sentence in her adored teacher's presence for once.

"Strange...? What do you mean by 'strange' Mana? Explain." Mahad puts down the two vials he was experimenting with to pay full attention to Mana. His concern was now piqued at the mention of his leader and friend.

"Well, I didn't know who else to tell besides you, teacher, but..." Mana feels that blush again within Mahad's penetrating gaze. She averts her eyes before continuing her speech.

"...for one, the Queen didn't seem to remember which side little 'Yami' likes to feed from---and he's a very particular baby that one!" Mana raises a finger. Her red cheeks suddenly redden further at the thought of discussing such intimate details with a man. For some reason she couldn't explain, she was embarrassed, though she never had trouble telling Mahad anything else before.

"...And?" Mahad didn't consider this tidbit of information either embarrassing nor important. Womens' behavior was a mystery beyond any magician or vizier and was, at any given moment, subject to change.

"And then, the Pharaoh didn't stay to help her like he always does. So I had to help the Queen with little Yami. She seemed to have such problems too! He was so troublesome---a very disobedient little prince, who bites and squirms without his father's firm hand and authoritative supervision. Yami even bit my finger! See! He was so upset!" Mana shows off her left forefinger where the naughty prince had, in a fit, taken a nip at.

"Yes, well, perhaps Pharaoh had more important things to do this morning than tend to babies." Mahad chauvinistically comments. He considered watching and tending children to be women's work, though he knew the new Pharaoh had his own novel ideas about such matters, now that he had returned to them from his exile. He spoiled his new wife and obviously spoiled his new son as well, from the sound of it.

"I thought so, too, but when he came out from his wardrobe, dressed all funny in the wrong clothes, I didn't know what to think! He couldn't even get his crown to stay up and I had to help him with it! He's normally so good at that! He seems so different today than our Princ---I mean, Pharaoh. He didn't even ask about the status of the sanctuary for the Queen and Yami to hide in, that he's ordered us and Shimon to construct in case of an emergency."

"Still..." Mahad considers her words, brushing her off as the girl's own silly fancies. After all, she was still just a child herself, despite all the vast knowledge of magic he had imparted to her during their sessions.

"And then, after I finally helped get Queen Teana dressed, she wasn't her normal fashionable self, either! She didn't even know where her jewels were! Imagine that! The only thing she managed to put on right was the Pendant that Pharaoh recently asked you to forge from a shard of his Puzzle. And Pharaoh marched right into her dressing chambers, announcing that they should go somewhere, after both of them asked me so many odd questions about things I don't quite understand----about Priest Seth and somebody named 'Kisara.' Then Queen Teana called Pharaoh 'Yugi" and told me that she'd watch over the little prince all by herself today. And they went running out the door!"

"Priest Seth, eh...Hmmmm...This may require my involvement after all." Mahad closes his magic book. His interest was piqued at the name of the keeper of the Millennium Rod. They didn't get along very well, so the mere mention of the man was enough to grab Mahad's sought-after attention.

"Let us monitor the situation **our **way." Mahad stretches out his hand to Mana, brushing the Millennium Ring around his neck as a magical staff, in aqua shades, appears in it. He places his other hand on the girl's shoulder briefly as they both begin to glow. Mana closes her eyes as the pair of them disappear in an aqua and cerulean orb of magician's light.

Mana trusted her mentor entirely, unnoticing in this moment that Mahad's eyes flashing, as though he sensed another's presence, as the pair fade into the light...

...And others into the shadows.

"Don't you think it would have been wiser to have left the baby with Mana, Tea? Who knows what we're going to face for Serenity's sake. It might not be safe." 'Pharaoh' Yugi says over his shoulder to his 'Queen.'

Tea stops in the hallway, amidst their running sprint. A two year old wriggling package was not so easy to hold and race with at the same time.

"No! I couldn't leave him." Tea shouts in a loud whisper so ferociously that Yugi is taken aback.

"Tea, I know how you feel..." Yugi pauses in his run as well, touching the little toddler's tiny fingers that grab a fairly strong grip around his own. "But when I told you that I thought I caught a glimpse of Joey racing into the palace grounds with a fainted woman in his arms, I hardly expected you to bring our----**their**----baby with you." Yugi's mouth was complaining, but his hands and eyes were playing with little 'Yami.' The pleasant babe cooed at his 'da-da's' low voice, in a whisper.

"Well, you couldn't expect me to leave him---all by hisself, could you, da-da? Ooooh, you're so adorable!" Tea was googling baby-talk at her 'new' son. She smooched a big, wet kiss on his head, much to the child's giggling approval and delight. She hugged him close, cuddling him tightly.

"Tea, let's be serious and meet with Joey. He may need our help." Yugi is astounded and somewhat frightened by how quickly Tea had gotten over her timidity with the child. Her motherly instincts had kicked in with a bang.

"You lead and we'll follow, da-da." Tea is embarrassed immediately by her own continued use of the baby talk. Her eyes divert from Yugi the minute she says them, realizing that this bouncing baby was not really hers and his. He was Atem's and Teana's. After all, they were the ones married.

_Well, I can borrow him while I'm here at least, can't I? Both of my little men... _

Tea smiles, her eyes tracing her 'husband's' fine shoulder blades and tanned muscular arms and legs pumping as she tags along behind him. She and little Yami both watch in awe.

_Anywhere you go..._

Tea smiles as the baby in her arms somehow makes her feel so proud to be Yugi's girl.

"Your Majesties!"

Several men who were the Pharaoh's royal guard bow down low on one knee before Pharaoh Atem and his new Queen.

Yugi nods for them to stand as the speeding horse carrying Joey comes to a halting stop before them.

"Captain Jono! You're back!" The men call out to their leader, joy on their faces for his safe return.

"Captain Jono?" Yugi and Tea mouth the title to each other. Atem certainly never told them about this! Joey was his Captain of the guard?

"Captain Jono? Uhh, yeah, that's me, I guess! Got my own fan club it seems, too! Boy, that was some ride! I can't believe we actually got back in one piece, Trigga!" Joey's loud voice bellows as he smacks his horse's rump proudly.

"Joey! I mean, 'Jono', is that Mai?" Tea, rather unqueenly like, rushes out into the still billowing sands, to Joey's horse's side. Yugi was close on her heels, shocking his elite guard by physically taking the dark haired woman from Joey's tired arms as he hands her down to him.

"Yup. She's all right---just passed out. You wouldn't believe where I found her! Sheesh! Anyways, you're lookin good, Tea! Whose kid's that?" Joey was so close a friend that he already knew that this was Tea and Yugi, despite their clothes, jewels and tanned skin---not to mention the baby in tow.

"Meet 'our' son, Yami, 'Captain Jono.'" Tea proudly introduces the babe as Yami punches Joey's shoulder.

"Whoa...way to go, Yuge." Joey smirks with a wink at his friend.

"What happened to Mai, Joey?" Clearing his throat, all businesslike, Yugi asks as his faithful servants, immediately and without order, usher their king into a room with a bed for the unconscious woman.

"Don't know exactly. I saved her from some spooky guys in robes and cloaks, trying to roast her. Then she did something and then kinda passed out. I don't really get it. It took all night for us to get here, after me and the horse had a little understandin' going on. She's breathin' and all, but Mai still hasn't come to. You can fix her up now that we're here I hope. I'm sure glad that I made it to you guys, cause I figured, if I was me, in ancient Egypt, then, you'd, well, be yous again. And, boy, am I pooped! Riding horseys all night is tough. _ yawn _"

Joey's fatigue was more than mere physical, though he would not let on differently. Both Tea and Yugi knew that Mai's condition and this mission for Serenity were both weighing heavily on his soul.

_There's pain in your eyes, Joey, behind that strong smile._

Yugi's thought is one Tea shared. They exchange a look over Joey's head as he kneels at Mai's bedside. He squeezes her unconscious hand in his tightly.

"...is sickie, mama?" The baby boy points to Mai's unconscious form on the bed.

"Yes, Yami, she's 'sickie.' But she'll be better **real **soon. Cause we're gonna take good care of her--you and me. Da-da and Uncle Jono are going to go help a friend now. They'll be back soon." Tea's commanding words were more directed at Joey than her toddler's curiosity. Joey lifts his head to look into Tea's eyes with a grateful smile.

"We'd better go find Kaiba, Joey. I'm sure he's already got it all figured out how to find and save Serenity." Yugi states assuredly, believing in the man he called his friend.

"He had better." Joey grumbles as he stands. "Tea?"

"We'll be watching Mai, Joey. Don't you worry. I'll send word for you the minute she's up. She's in good hands." Tea giggles as her baby's hands tickle her tummy. She wraps the child up in her arms as they both wave a fond goodbye to 'da-da' as he leaves with Joey.

"Good luck, guys..." Tea whispers as the Pharaoh and his Captain of the Guard bound out of the room.


	22. Chapter 22

We do not own "Yu-Gi-Oh!" nor any of its characters.

**Chapter 22**

He would move heaven, earth and hell too, if it got in the way, for that girl. His emotions ran that high, while his self-confidence and pride in one's self was already at an unhealthy level, assuring him that nothing---and nobody---could stand in his way when it came to protecting the woman he loved.

_Yeah, I love her._

Even the stone-cold, steel brick of a wall that Seto Kaiba thought he had forged around his heart a long time ago, couldn't stand up to the force of nature that Serenity Wheeler had become to him. She was like a sweet, gentle ray of pure sunlight piercing into his dark, corrupted soul.

Now, as for finding her, that was a different subject entirely. If Serenity was the sunlight in his life, then Maximillion Pegasus must've been the stormcloud.

"Ooooh, ooooh, it has just GOT to be this one. This time, I'm sure." Pegasus' own peculiar voice was beginning to creep into the deep scratchy voicebox of Priest Seth's father, Aknadin, that Pegasus' mind was now inhabiting.

_As if he had a mind to need space any bigger than the brain of a flea to start out with...How can I be such a genius coming from his gene pool?_

Kaiba huffs to himself as he watches the dottering old fool seem to be playing eenie-meenie-miney-mo with the set of doors that all led down dark hallways. The pair had already traipsed through far too many dead ends at Pegasus' 'inspired' direction. Kaiba had had just about enough.

"Why **this **one **this **time? Any **sane**, logical reason? Or is that too much to ask from you, Pegasus?"

"No need to be touchy, my boy! Just because your **entire **universe hangs in the balance--your **entire** life threatens to crumble before your very eyes." Pegasus still has his flair for dramatics despite being in a body not his own.

_I'm getting accustomed to it...unfortunately..._

"Shut up. What would you know about it, old man?" Kaiba spits out venomously as he reaches out to choose the door of his own choice. Pegasus had led him down the garden path far too many times for him to believe that the older man was of any use whatsoever in their hunt for Serenity's whereabouts.

"Everything...and nothing, my boy. Everything and still, as yet, never enough." Pegasus' normal kooky voice turns soft and serious. His one good eye looked deeply into Kaiba's as he places a hand on his tall son's muscular arm that was reaching for the door handle.

"No, it's not that one. Breathe it in---this is the door she's behind." Aknadin's large hand points at the opposing door. Kaiba's glaring eyes turn quizzical at Pegasus' enigmatic statement.

"How do you know this? Magic tricks again?" Kaiba says lowly, suspiciously, eyeing the silvery haired old man.

"Simply the magic of a woman's scent---and a sweet one at that." Pegasus' golden Eye glimmers in the darkly lit hall as he opens the door. Kaiba cautiously steps into its dark entrance that led to yet another long hallway.

_Sweet scent? What was that fool talking---**Serenity!** It is your scent!_

Kaiba's heart skips a beat as a gust of wind breezes through the hallway, bringing to him her sweet perfume---the soft delicate touch of purity and flowers, that only he would recognize.

Pegasus watches as his son's cautious treads are thrown to the wind. Kaiba races forward as fast as his long legs would take him down the long corridor. Pegasus does his best to keep up but no man could run as fast as one racing to the arms of the one he loved...

By the time Pegasus' old, run down body arrived at the eerie rows of cells, Kaiba was already inside of one. He rips the old wooden bars apart to get to the single prisoner that existed within, feeling as if her true blue eyes had called out to him to rescue her.

Priest Seth's arms and his kiss envelop his love's fragile beauty all at once. Tears spring to Pegasus' eye as he witnesses the tender scene of parted lovers, reunited, indeterminate of time, where true love has no limits...


	23. Chapter 23

We do not own "Yu-Gi-Oh!" nor any of its characters.

**Chapter 23**

The river Nile was as breathtaking as it was ageless. Its cleansing waters washed over Namu Ishtar's body, and he revels in its powerful streaming tides the first moment he strips down from his meager, soil clothing and immerses himself within the river's waters.

Kubarin had taken him to a part of the river where no one was sure to see his muddy friend's bathing. Street rats as they were had made it part of their trade to know secret spots where the rest of normal townspeople would not trespass upon.

_This is our domain of the Nile! And nobody better step a foot near it, unless they want trouble from me!_

Kubarin rubs his nose, just itching for a fight as he scrubs Namu's robe against a bed of rocks near the shore.

Marik closes his eyes, submerged entirely in the river. He felt the currents wash through his tangled hair, untangling it and making him feel 'clean' again---in a purifying way that he had never quite felt before. He tries to collect his scattered thoughts for the mission, but when his head resurfaces, he was sure he could sense movement in the rushes nearby.

His curiosity causes him to investigate the green palms blowing to and fro in the breeze.

"Is...anyone there?" He asks, a little more timidly than in his usual direct-to-the-point voice. After all, he was aware of being totally naked under the water, though his conceited proud mind already told him that he had nothing to be ashamed of.

_Or here either._ Marik smirks._ Namu Ishtar seems to have mimicked my stunning features---muscle for muscle. Or is it that I mimicked him? Ah well, whatever..._

Marik's keen mind murmurs to himself under his breath. He fully grasped this soul transference, once Ishizu had explained it.

_Ishizu...I wonder where you are now, Sister. Probably with him..._

"...Hmph..."

Marik lets the little frustrated 'hmph' come out. He for one did not condone Shadi's return to the flesh, chiefly because he WAS in the flesh now. Marik didn't quite enjoy knowing that a 'real' man, not just a wandering spirit, was living so closely to his older sister. The four of them---Marik, Ishizu, Odion and now, Shadi, were taking up residence together. But the mysterious man was NOT family, so he didn't belong.

"He is a man, after all..."

Marik keeps muttering under his breath angrily. It was hard to focus on a mission when one's sister's innocence and purity were in danger.

"I've noticed the way he's been looking at her! That---that---"

"What is it you're mumbling about, Namu? The river is supposed to cleanse your body, mind and soul---not make you talk to yourself like an idiot." The tenor and proximity of the low voice causes Marik's lissom body to nearly jump straight out of the river he was thankfully submersed in.

He halts in his half-hearted investigation of the rushes to find a youthful boy's face peering at him through the tall stems and stalks, with eyes and voice laughing at him.

"Don't look so scared, Namu. It's only us here! I double checked. Nice time of afternoon for a leisurely bath, wouldn't you say?" The 'boy' who had a short shock of red hair and muscular, wiry arms was actually a teenaged girl. But even her bareness was enough to turn Namu/Marik's shocked face a deep shade of red, which was especially due to her closeness. She was nearly atop him and getting nearer as she walked over, unabashed.

Marik was grateful that he was hidden beneath the dark waters, whereas she...was being displayed before all the world.

Marik backs away as his eyes widen.

"What's with you today? Did you eat something bad? Don't we always bathe together? Us street rats have to stick together! That's what you always say, isn't it, Namu? Wash each other's back? We're a team--the three of us--and we do everything together. There's no secrets between partners like us. To the end! Right, Kubarin?" The girl's effervescence and zest for life were evident in her wild ranting and raving. Her red hair blazed in the sunlight as she and Kubarin wave to each other, like sister and brother. So close was the forged bond that seemed to be between the little 'gang' of orphaned survivors.

_Back...?_

Marik's hand reaches to feel the unmarred, smooth back which he had never felt before. In his wonder, a smile came to his face at the freedom.

But Marik was far too uncomfortable here to enjoy it for long. He had a hard time considering the tomboyish girl with the startling green eyes and just as startling red hair, as another one of the group, especially with her having no clothes on.

_That sure doesn't help._

"Partners to the end! You got that right, Kara!" Kubarin's little voice was soon at their side. He tosses aside his own meager clothes and leaves Namu's to float down the river as he sloshes and splashes his way over to the pair. His playful nature caused him to throw water up in both their faces. Kara laughs, splashing him back.

_Kara, huh?_

Marik feels his mind wander, trying to imagine his ancestor's life above the 'melee' of water and flying wetness and giggling friends playing. The red headed girl's laughing eyes danced upon the sunlit waters as her red streaks of short cropped hair catch fire in the bright sunlight. Marik's eyes had never seen anything so intense---so fiery, so full of life as the tomboyish girl in all his life. His unromantic mind for once marvelled at her illuminating energy. Her eyes mischievously alight as she turns to him, splashing his torso, dousing his precious hair yet again---

But he finds this time, he doesn't really care, as she points, giggling at him and the silly way he looked. Her eyes sucked him into their wide-eyed intensity.

Suddenly, amidst the childish laughter and playful shrieks of water splashing between he and his newly found friends, Marik's uncanny sense goes off. He steps back from Kara and Kubarin's oblivious water games. His eyes slit, scanning the area for the danger he knew was imminently nearby.

_What is this dark presence?_

He had not felt this particular evil in so long that he had almost forgotten, but then again, this was the kind of evil that never lets you forget its darkness. Marik was certain that both the skies and the waters had grown still and dark in the silent wake.

"Namu!" The voice boths rumbles and slinks simultaneously. The sun in the sky seemed to shrink away too, in fear, as the clouds darken from above them suddenly as if the light had been stolen from it by this singular man's powerful presence.

Stolen by a master thief, who had no equal.

"I don't appreciate being kept waiting by my lackeys." There was a sophisticated quality to his voice nonetheless. Though it dripped with sarcasm and venom, it still retained a certain air of dignity and utter self-confidence in a rampaging, masculine manner.

Kara seemed to be affected by it in some way. The brave, jovial tomboy of just minutes before almost fearfully clutched Namu's shoulders as she shields her naked body behind him self consciously, in the presence of another man. She was practically pressing against his back, to cover her own exposed chest.

To this action, the thief gives a raised eyebrow. Marik's eyes widen in shock at just who he was face to face with. The taller, intimidating man brushes his lavendery-whitish hair back with a sneer on his curled lips.

"Sorry, boss! There was an accident in the stables and---" Kubarin begins to explain with a fearstruck look on his youthful face, towards the imposing man standing with his hands on his hips at the riverbank.

"I don't accept excuses, boy. Only results. If you still want to be 'in' tonight, you had better follow me and consider yourselves fortunate I am in such a generous mood today." And with that, Adonah Bakura, the king of thieves himself, simply turns on his heel in that commanding way of his that made him a lengend amongst thieves and the lower ranks of rabble and pilferers. His red cloak blows behind his quick movements. The man entirely disappears into the tree-line before another word could be spoken.

"Wow, he's so cool!" Kubarin mouths in awe at the leader he and many simple thieves around the city had rallied around.

Adonah's indomitable spirit had caused many of them to stand up and notice. He and his shadowy games were the source of much fear and inspired awe equally among the people. This so-dubbed "King of Thieves" had become a legend in his own time, for his ruthless reign of terror and thievery beyond comparison. He was the kind of courageous, fearless legend that would be the 'hero' of any young lad's fantasies.

"Come on, Namu, Kara! Can't let the boss down! He's got a job for us tonight! Whoooo-wheeee! Always one great adventure after the other when we follow him!" Kubarin was, indeed, taken in by the master thief's aura of a heroic daredevil, who risked it all for the sake of the poor, ordinary people.

But Kara was beginning to have a different opinion about him, if just from the way his eyes grew more and more evil every day since they first met. The edgy feeling she got whenever he was around made her feel as if he was going insane...

_If only we could pull out of tonight's heist! But Namu's too valuable an infiltrator for Master Adonah to just let go...He's just too good at what we do. The master will NEVER give him up! Oh, Namu, why do you have to be so good at this? Please let this be the last one. Let's run away where no one can find us. If I can be with only you, for a lifetime, that's all I'll ever need. Just you and me. We don't need gold or silver or anyone else! I don't want anyone to take you away from me! I just have a bad feeling about tonight--I feel like I'm losing you already..._

Kara looks into Namu's confused eyes.

"Well, what're we waiting for? Adventure awaits! Let's go, Namu! Can't let the others have all the action!" Kubarin cries out.

Not a word of Kara's true throughts come into her forced smile. Her will was stronger than anything as she simply splashes past Marik/Namu. Her lithe body dashed onto shore and pulled on her clothing, unashamed with him, as she takes his hand and pulls him up out of the river. She gives him his skirt wrap, but Marik was too stunned by what had just happened to even care that he was dressing in front of her as he ties on his clothes.

Kara's hand tugs him forward at what seemed like blinding speeds as Kubarin waves for them to follow him into the city's gates.

_My prestigious, most honored ancestor was a common thief before he was tombkeeper? No way. This just can't be happening!_

The shock was too dizzying for Marik as he races forward to take his place beside Kara...


	24. Chapter 24

We do not own "Yu-Gi-Oh!" nor any of its characters.

**Chapter 24**

"Mmmmh...mmmmm..."

These were shared murmurs escaping shared lips, brimming with passion as they kissed desperately for the first time in their young lives.

Pegasus watches with a slightly embarrassed smile and just as curious eyes as his son practically makes out with the imprisoned young lady in question before him.

_I know she's irresistible to touch, especially when you thought you might've lost her. But my boy, dear, oh dear, if you kiss her so fervently to the point of breathlessness, you may lose her again._

Perhaps Kaiba heard his parent's silent advice in his head or maybe his own sense of responsibility kicks after a long minute, but he does finally release Kisara's lips from the deep kiss that had left them both utterly breathless. She leans into him for steadiness.

"Seto...I knew you'd come for me. I was so scared. I just knew you'd come..."

Indeed, it was Serenity's voice that Kaiba hears, though his eyes were closed, as he grips her body in his arms. His one burning thought to never let her go again pounded louder in him than even his pulsating heart.

Seto Kaiba had never realized before how precious one little person could be until she came into his life.

And he wasn't about to lose that----ever.

Serenity/Kisara conforms to his arms, as she allows her mind to flutter as freely as her heart in his presence. Her hands boldly feel across his chest, clutching his wide shoulders and feeling his very muscular arms.

"Seto...?"

Serenity opens her eyes for the first time since her love had arrived. When he first entered her line of sight into the cel she was imprisoned in, her eyes were blinded by pure love. She recognized instantly that he was the other half of her soul. She, just now, in breathless observation, that her Seto was wearing strange clothing. His pale skin was very much darker than its usual shade and his arms were so entirely muscular, rather than the thin sinew she was accustomed to.

But still, somehow through the changes, she could still feel that this was still him---her Seto Kaiba.

_It's a dream...I'm in a dream...And he's wearing a funny hat in my dream. _

"What a funny hat, Seto." Serenity whispers with a girlish giggle, not understanding why she was feeling so tired and faint as she distractedly removes the tall, blue and gold hat that was more like a crown with its sculpted golden snake and finery, from the tanned Kaiba's head.

With a crooked smile, she toys with the snake head with an artist's critical eye before she lets the heavy hat rest down to her side. Her other hand reaches out and ruffles through the tall man's hair. The light of love reflected back from his eyes although set within a tan and still dashingly handsome face. Serenity was now absolutely certain it was her adored 'prince'.

"Yeah...it is that." With a chuckle, Kaiba, too, now looks at his girl. Her looks were still beautiful in his eyes. He gets caught up in the endless chasm of her all-enveloping blue eyes, surrounded by the cloud of long, long snowy white hair.

_But I prefer you as a redhead any day._

"Seto, why am I in this prison? Did I do something wrong? I don't remember where I was last...exactly...I know I was on the museum's roof and then...I just feel like I've been dreaming for a very long time. It was as if I was hearing your heartbeat, even though I was sleeping. And then, I woke up in this place, in the dark, all by myself. I was so frightened because...it was...like...being blind all over again!!" Serenity's calm, serene voice breaks up as she returns to his embrace, burying her teary face in his chest, despite his odd new getup. She only felt that it was her Seto and that made everything all right again.

"Shhh...Serenity, I've got you. I'm here now. And I'll never let you be alone again. I swear it to you." Kaiba tenderly whispers in her hair, as he caresses her tears away. His mind was exploding with so many thoughts and questions, but his heart was also exploding with pure love for this pure girl. He knew it was her right away---with eyes that only two people in love could see. "I'll get you out of here. You'll see. I'll never let your light be alone in the darkness again."

Priest Seth's body wraps around the mysterious pale girl named Kisara, for within these ancient bodies the future love between this destined pair could not be trampled down. It was burning just as bright---or, even now, brighter and more mature and strong than ever. Much more so than the ill-fated priest and his love's brief moments that would span all of his lifetime spent alone.

Seto Kaiba pledges to his own heart not to share his ancestor's---his mirrored soul---same blackened fate.

_I, for one, won't lose you, Serenity...Because you are my greatest treasure...I'll find some way to keep you in the light..._

While his face was buried in her snow white hair, Seto realizes just who he was cradling in his arms.

She was Kisara! His Serenity was...

_No! I won't allow it!!_

Seto pulls her even more tightly against him, as if this simple act would keep her safe. Seto thinks of Seth's ill-fated romance with the blue-eyed Kisara. He knew that Kisara's body held the essence---no, the power---of his beloved Blue Eyes, White Dragon and that she gave up her own life in order to protect Seth.

Seto squeezes his eyes shut again. His mind replays the scene on the rooftop, just hours earlier, when, as he was falling, he caught sight of a flash of white and a gleam of blue...

_Blue eyes...She is...Serenity is..._

Seto nuzzles Serenity's neck, fighting the urge to cry. He never was a man who showed his emotions---he was much too proud to do so. But now he could no longer hide it. He had now discovered that Serenity was much too precious to him to lose. Though he loved his Blue Eyes, White Dragon and respected it, he didn't want her to give everything to protect him.

_No, it should be the other way around! I should be the one to protect you! You will not die. I won't allow you to become Blue Eyes again!_

Seto loved her as she was. He couldn't and wouldn't, let her sacrifice so much for him. He wouldn't tolerate such a thing.

"Oh!!!"

Serenity's sudden gasp pulls Seto out of his reverie and even precedes Pegasus' psychic awareness. Her senses were keener than ever and her ears were so strangely sensitive as her big, blue eyes widen towards the darkness with some degree of fear as Seto ushers her from the cel.

"Who's there? Show yourself!" Kaiba spins around, protectively standing ground in front of Kisara as Seth's hand instinctively reaches for the Millennium Item that was his, tucked inside his belt, unbeknownst to his future self.

Kaiba raises the golden Millennium Rod towards the blackness of the corridor ahead as soft steps echo closer, though almost indistinct.

"I am pleased to see the Blue Eyes girl is still alive and well."

Upon hearing this familiar voice, Pegasus smiles broadly at the dark man in the robes as he draws closer to the trio. Maximillion, for some strange reason, was always glad to see the man, despite himself as his own Eye warns prewarns him of who this stranger was.

"Shadi! How are you, my old friend? You are a sight for sore eyes. Heh, heh, heh." Pegasus' overly warm happy voice somehow leaks through into his now roughened and old exterior, making a rather contrasting effect to the untrained eye as he gestures his hand towards the most questionable feature shining gold on his none too handsome face.

"Ah, yes, Maximillion Pegasus. You are now the evil Aknadin from the past." Shadi's monotone voice hadn't changed despite a being in a body a millennium younger. His own eyes were unperturbed by anything as he states the obvious quite bluntly.

"Ooohh, 'evil' is such a strong word, wouldn't you say? Perhaps 'misguided' would be better?" Pegasus/Aknadin smiles at his old friend with a hopefully optimistic grin.

"No, perhaps it is not strong enough a word." Shadi states unaffectedly, giving Pegasus a raised brow.

"Shadi..." Pegasus mumbles sadly, his lower lip jutting out his hurt feelings.

"Shada. Here in this time you will call me 'Shada.'"

"Same personable guy as ever. 'Shada, Shadi' what's the difference really? A rose by any other name..." Pegasus mumbles to himself as Shadi---oh, excuse me---'Shada', turns his deeper attentions to Seth and the white haired girl hanging on his arm.

"I've been waiting for you to arrive, High Priest, though I was assured you would, eventually. Our mission begins now and it is a longer one than I first envisioned." Succinctly impassive, Shada's eyes vaguely fall on Serenity causing her clutch Seto's arm tighter as the seer focuses on her as if seeing right through her. The Millennium Key hanging on his neck, vascillated as if asking for a chance to prove itself before them, where before, it could not.

"Now that we are here, I am sensing that the danger to the future goes further than this one woman. Vastly far-reaching than this situation and it concerns the fates of many. Many lives that are unbeknownst to themselves are at stake. Allow me to explore your mind. I believe my millennia of experience will be able to guide me safely this time."

"No way." Seto answers for Serenity, though Shada was asking her eyes, not his. Serenity turns to Seto with a pleading face.

"I don't know what he means, Seto, but if other people's lives are in danger---if his entering my mind can help in some little way, even...I want to help everyone! Please let him try. Please?" Serenity knew well the effect of her 'please' and batting lashes had on her boyfriend generally. But never before had she seen his eyes so stern and unmoved as if he were driven.

"No way am I going to let this phony soothsayer mess with your head, Serenity." Seto puts his foot down, literally, taking another step in front of Serenity as if to shield her from Shada's Key in his readied hand.

"But---" Serenity starts to protest, though she loved Seto and wanted to obey him, when it came to the concern of others...

"No buts about it, Serenity! Listen to the man. Once in a while, even HE could be right. As much as it pains me to say it.""

A voice comes from behind them. There was no doubt about it. Joey Wheeler's definite air of arrogance had just entered the room within the form of his past ancestor, Jono, the Pharaoh's most trusted Captain of the Guard.

The Pharaoh himself was not more than a few feet behind Serenity's blonde brother. Yugi Motou's expressive eyes consider all the people in front of him. His every step and gaze seemed to be pervaded by the Pharaoh Atem's honor and glory in the presence of grace and wisdom likened to that of an Egyptian god.

"Ohhh!!! Yugi-boy!! That cape! That crown! Those earrings!!! Oh, they're so you!! Tell me, who does your hair and wardrobe here? I do need to give that Dark Magician a ring! This hairy, wrinkled old look is just not me! Were facelifts invented in this era yet? I know someone who can use one!!!" Ranting on and on, 'Aknadin' complains of his elderly features and unkempt hair yet again to his royal nephew.

"Pegasus?" The crooked smile and quizzical eyes that cross the Pharaoh's beautiful face was almost comical as he looks on the forlorn features of the man who was supposed to be Atem's uncle.

"You mean this loony back here in the past got the soul of our loony from the future here inside him? Whoa...this is getting heavy!" Joey scratches 'Jono's' head as he joins Yugi's puzzled expression at the funny Aknadin.

"Alas, guilty as charged, my boy." Pegasus sighs, resting his decrepit old hand on Jono's shoulder as Joey gives him the 'icked out' look for touching him.

"Okay, enough of the drawn-out introductions. If you're the almighty Pharaoh, Yugi, then just declare this girl no longer a prisoner here in your prison so we can drop this game of charades and get back to our real lives in the future." Kaiba growls, having had just about enough of this magic and maniacs. He places both hands on Kisara's fair shoulders and directs her to look at the Pharaoh.

"Consider it done. But Kaiba," Yugi's lower voice responds quickly to his friend's demand, but he had questions of his own that needed answering.

"Good, great. So where's your girlfriend, Tea? She's the one that brought us here to this mess. So she's the one to get us out." Seto Kaiba's logical mind always had a way of precisely pinpointing the way to solve any maze, game or puzzle. His serious, stunning eyes glared at the rest of world, just so long as Serenity was safe in his grasp at all times.

"Listen for once, Kaiba! This is not just some illusionary game. Nor is it 'game over' time yet. Yes, Kisara is, as yet, alive and well in this time. But that doesn't mean Serenity's fate is assured. Tell me, what are you so certain has been irrevocably changed here by our presence?" The Pharaoh's commanding voice bellows loudly. His impassioned speech, he still disbelieved how tough it was to get anything to sink through Seto Kaiba's tough skull, especially after all they'd seen and witnessed already.

"SERENITY IS ALIVE!! And I intend to keep it that way. That's all I care about." The venom in which these words are spit out is so intense, so filled with the fire of absolute certainty that everyone around Priest Seth's sudden outburst is just as sure that he isn't. Denial was one of the things that Seto Kaiba did best.

While everyone else was blown away by his imperative words, Kaiba himself was left gasping for a moment, shaking his fist in the air at some unseen enemy called his 'emotions.'

Serenity, in Kisara's body, begins to tremble from deep within. Her eyes explode with the tears that had been pounding behind them as she turns from all the arguing men whose fists and voices were raised at one another. She races blindly down the dark corridor, away from all of the anger.

"Please everyone! Stop yelling!" She cries out as she runs into the darkness.

"Serenity! Wait! Serenity!" Seto turns and races after her quick stepping body, at full speed. Joey and Yugi were close at his heels as they all give chase to the hysterically departing girl, sister and friend in need.

"Remember me? I knew you'd come running back to my arms one day, Kisara. I have that kind of animal magnetism."

The hissing voice was eerily familiar as dark hands pull the white haired girl close.

"Ahhhhhhhhhh!!!!!!!!!!!!" She shrieks, as he then turns his attention to the just now arriving men.

"This is an auspicious occasion. Not only does my intended prey rush straight into my arms, but I am to be wished a fond farewell by the Pharaoh himself. I'll return the favor sometime soon, I promise you."

And with that, the figure cloaked in the darkness of the prison's recesses, that Kisara/Serenity had unknowingly run into, throws down a flashing bomb of smoke, blinding the three men.

Nevertheless, Priest Seth continues to race forward, despite his stinging eyes, landing a solid punched directly into the shocked face of Serenity's kidnapping assailant.

Despite the pitch darkness the voice echoed from, Kaiba had heard his Serenity's muffled gasps and had used her voice to zero in on her kidnapper.

"Nice shot, high priest. I should've figured you could see her light even through the darkness. But not for long! Pinnacle Shockwave!!!"

A voice far too familiar to them all, calls out the ferocious attack. Priest Seth, Captain Jono and Pharaoh Atem are all slung backwards towards the dark corridors as the kidnapper makes his getaway with Kisara's weakened body no longer kicking and screaming, as he muffles her mouth with his thieving hand.

The legendary swift hand of the most masterful thief of them all.

"I've just had an inspiration of the greatest treasure yet to be stolen, Pharaoh. And yours is next, so watch your own back."

The voice, dripping with evil, reverberates down the long hallways as it fades into nothingness, further into the ebony darkness...


	25. Chapter 25

We do not own "Yu-Gi-Oh!" nor any of its characters.

**Chapter 25**

On the surface above, where Kisara's kidnapping had taken place, a pair of strangers whose bodies were best friends, if not their minds, were perched near the perimeter of the Pharaoh's palace looking in at the guards who were doing double shifts. They were waiting for those guards to be relieved and the palace left unguarded for that briefest moment.

"I still can't believe you work for that Thief. Kara, trust me, he's bad news. You shouldn't get involved with his schemes." Whispering, Namu, a.k.a. Marik, pulls off his hood from his dark cloak as he looks to Kara. She was sporting the same outfit, and appeared to be a man, within the large male clothing so much that Marik could only tell she was a woman due to past encounters. And boy did he know! He was still trying to get the vision of her body with the gleaming drops of water reflected on the sunlight off the river burning fire in her red hair....

And maybe in something inside of him as well. For the first time in his life, something was stirring. Marik shakes his head violently, trying to clear it. His averted eyes now looked up to where Kara's were glaring over at him in disbelief.

"**I'm** working for him?! Namu, you're the one who convinced me to join his group of losers when we had no place to go and nothing to eat. Remember? Good thing all the rest of his swine think I'm just another thieving 'guy', though he himself knows I'm not, for a fact..." Kara's ferocious whisper breaks off rather weakly.

"What do you mean 'for a fact?' Has he done something to you?" Suddenly Marik feels his masculine ire rise. He searched the green eyes before him for any sign that that thieving---

"NO! Namu, I---it's just the way his cold eyes look at me sometimes. I can feel him watching my every move. I can't explain it. Hey! Enough chatting, we've got a job to do here, although I don't claim to like it, especially tonight's mission. Who knows what disgusting thing a man of his calibre is plotting with all this? But Namu, I'd still like to stay alive. We** both **had better like to." Kara's eyes blazed with determination in his, as she squeezes his hands, conveying so many emotions at once. Underlying every one of them was a fear-- a deep, stabbing fear of the king thief who she knew to never cross---or else not expect to see the light of the next day.

Marik looks into her green eyes as the dark, dusky sky casted shadows over both of their hooded bodies as Kara tucks his hood back over his blonde head. She then hands him some sort of archaic grappling hook, with an expectant look in her eye.

"You first, 'lackey.'"

"But...why?"

"Fine. I'll go on this one alone. Though I thought it would always be a team. Kubarin's probably already inside by now. We're wasting time."

Marik watches in awe as the girl's muscular arms appear, bare and toned, from within the folds of her dark clothes. She grunted as she threw the heavy metal prong up until it caught hold of the stone balcony edge. Stealthily, Kara heaves herself up the ropes, scaling the walls with ease, as if her pliable form had quite a bit of experience when it came to this sort of thing.

There was no limit to her, was there? Marik watches Kara go up the rope, considering what to do now.

_Why did I have to wake up in this time alone? Ishizu! Odion! My friends, where are you? Well, one thing's for sure---I know where the Pharaoh is---in there. So maybe, if I go in, I'll see him and I'll warn of the Thief's strange new plan. I should be able to find the others and help more on our mission, despite my 'respected' ancestor's antics with the King of Thieves. _

"Kara, wait! I'm coming!" Marik scrambles up the rope, double time with a husky whisper upwards. Kara was not surprised that he was coming, but she was surprised to catch the glimpse of her skilled, athletic partner struggling with a task he'd done tens of times before with no problem.

_Why are you so strange today? It's as if you're another person...._ Kara thought to herself, involuntarily slowing down to let her partner catch up on the rope, until Namu is right on her heels. She gazes at him serious as she reaches the top of the balcony and leaps over the edge as graceful as a cat.

She backtracks to help her partner up, since he was acting so strangely today. But it was an unnecessary gesture. Muscular Namu easily flips up over the balcony's edge to land on his feet---as usual, so close to her surprised body that she could have kissed him.

A rise in voices beyond the curtained veranda breaks the moment and returns Kara to her concentration. She, a thief extraordinaire, had quickly learned how to slip into the shadows, hidden from sight. She grabs Namu by his sluggish collar, both of them dropping behind the large stone pillar near the balcony's edge.

"I could've sworn I heard something out here. Guess it was just the wind. Come on, little baby. Let's go back inside to check on Mai."

_That was Tea's voice!!_

A gleeful child's giggle ensues as Marik was about to call out to his fellow time traveler. He was glad to find someone he knew and who would know **him **at last, so they could get this show on the road. Suddenly, a quick motion from his partner causes him to stop dead in his tracks.

_Kara?! What is she doing?!_

Marik's eyes widen as the girl beside him begins to move, with a silent knife unsheathing from her hip belt.

"Hey, Mai. I want to introduce you to someone. Why don't you wake up already so you can meet him? Look! Isn't he sweet? Ooooh, you're cuddly, too, baby! He's really the best, most even-tempered loving baby you've ever seen. Just open your eyes and look at him! And do you have any idea who his daddy is? Well, I do! Boy, little did I know that the Pharaoh was so-----"

Tea stops her incessant ranting and silly schoolgirl blushing, at just the thought of Pharaoh Atem and his Queen like **that. **All the while she was cuddling and tickling 'her' new baby. The little boy was cooing at his funny 'mummy's' silly words, and talking to the sleeping lady on the bed, although Mai surely didn't hear her. Tea knew that and, though concerned for her friend, she was too excited to hold it in anymore.

_A baby! Just think! When Yugi and I have a baby.....Hee hee hee....He'll look just like you, little one! Well, maybe not so dark skinned and I think....I think I'll name him 'Jaden'!' Oooh, isn't that a cool name for such a cool little guy!_

Tea giggles as she tickles 'her' equally giggling child with plans for her own future.

"Oooh, I just love you so much already!!!"

_And you're not even mine....really...._

"Yes, you are! Today I'm Teana and I'm your mama, my sweet little adorable baby! I'm never gonna let you go! Ever!" Tea felt quite motherly and scoops up 'her' baby, smothering the rosy child, bubbling over with life and energy with her kisses. She starts blowing on his bare tummy to make funny noises, which causes him to laugh even more.

"Oh, you are so precious!!"

"Huh?" Teana suddenly looks up from her drooling over and playing with her bouncing baby boy, to notice that eerie feeling of inconspicuous movement--as if someone were there you couldn't see. Someone watching your every move....

"Greetings, Your Majesty."

Tea's gasps and screams are stifled by a sudden quick hand smacking over her mouth from behind. The other hand of her attacker was pointedly drawing a gleaming sharp knife to Tea's neck.

"Just hand over the baby and no one gets hurt." The voice was low and threatening. Tea's arms were still around the little boy, and pulled him closer to her now, in defiance. But her hand begins to shake when she feels the blade of the sharpened knife begin to cut the first layer of skin at her throat.

"Kara! What are you doing?! Kara, stop!!" Marik's mouth had fallen open the minute he saw his green-eyed friend pull out the weapon, and his mouth had hung open even wider when, within seconds, she had started to usedit on one of the only friends he had in the world.

Sure, Tea was wearing Queen Teana's clothing---she was in her body, just as Ishizu and Shadi had explained her Millennium Pendant could do, before this long journey even began.

But she was still Tea. Marik was that sure of it, as his body decides it could start moving again from the shock. He rushes over to the bedside of the dark haired woman that he knew instinctively somehow was his fellow duelist, Mai Valentine.

But this girl--Kara--as he has come to know her, was shocking them all by holding a knife to Tea's throat. She turns her red head to meet Marik's questioning eyes, mouthing the words 'Namu, I'm handling this my way!' to him as Tea's eyes glance at Marik's fleetingly, then redirecting them towards 'her son.'

Marik saw her maternal concern instantly from her every feature.

"Yes, Kara, what **are** you doing? Your instructions were to slay the babe, not kidnap him. It's the child's mother you were to procure only. What part of the word 'slay' don't you understand, my dear?"

His voice! His voice! And it was all too late. Kara turns to Namu with urgent, fearful eyes. She knew what certainly would come next when the cold-blooded thief with no heart beating within his chest was on the move....

"Allow me to illustrate for you and I'll write this particularly lesson out for you---in blood!"

The Thief hops deftly down to the balcony from above. He drops Serenity in Kisara's fainted body to the balcony ground as he rips open his red robes. A pair of deadly daggers suddenly approached the wide eyed baby and his frenzied mother.

All were stunned still as Thief Bakura moves in with wild eyes and a blood curdling cackle as well...

To most normal humans, taking the life of such a small, vulnerable creature as a tiny, toddler old baby in cold blood would be an unthinkable act. It was inconceivable for even the most hardened of criminals.

But it was entirely imaginable for a man whose blackened soul was corrupted enough to cast a shadow of blame for his stolen life upon what most would call the miracle of birth.

"Do you have to marry that old man, Bekah? Just because your father needed the money and sold you off to the highest, richest bidder? Really?"

A young man with long frosty-lavender hair and beautiful brown eyes sprints up to his childhood friend and now, sweetheart. For both souls had pledged themselves to one another alone, a long time ago, it seemed, from that awful day when he escaped his burning city in Kul Elna.

He considered himself fortunate to have found her here in this foreign city. For Bekah was the only one nice enough to look upon his pale haired features and fall in love with him to boot.

But this love was not meant to be.

"Yes, Adonah, I suppose I do." The small framed girl appeared no older than a child herself, despite her fourteen years of age that made her more than the accepted marrying age in that era.

The elderly businessman wanted an heir and he knew he had little time in which to accomplish this. So the younger, more fertile aged, the better. Surely, such a girl could produce him a son, even if he had to take ten brides. The callous man who was to be her husband had already made his intentions loud and clear for all the world to hear.

Sprightly, spirited Bekah was to be just another of his attempts and her desperate father had accepted his terms, for he had more concern of his money than of his daughter's wishes.

"But...he doesn't love you. That old fool can never love you as I can and do! Bekah! Bekah, marry me instead! I'll get the money for your father somehow, even more! I'll become the best thief there ever was!" Adonah grasps Bekah's back that had been turned to him all the while. Her thick shock of dark hair had disguised the fact that this young girl was trembling with tears flowing down her rosy cheeks.

Even as he said it, Adonah, a lowly orphan and street urchin, with neither family, background or trade to his self-assigned name, realized it was impossible for the well-bred daughter of a trader to marry some poor nobody. He was a stranger from a decimated city that was no more. He had nothing but his youthful vigor and deep love to offer her.

"If only I could be your wife, Adonah! Don't think I haven't wished for it so many times. I love you and I'll never, ever love him! But I still must marry him, or he'll do something dreadful to our family. I just have to...I'm so sorry!"

The tears were flowing like a river from Bekah's plump cheeks. Just as her thin arms fervently struggle against his grip to break loose from him, she tries to dash away, too overcome by her own sorrows to face his.

"Bekah...I will not let you go."

It was hissed under his lips in a way he had never felt before. Adonah feels his eyes burning at that moment, blazing with the desire to make Bekah his own.

_I'll get so much money in gold and jewels that your father will beg me to take you as my wife! I'll get you away from that dying old man! You'll see---you'll all see!! I'll be known as the Master King of Thieves throughout the city. I will be even richer than him! I'll be respected, too! Just wait, Bekah! I'll rescue you from his clutches soon!_

Adonah roared to be heard in this world.

One memory merges with nights of many others. The young boy turned man called Adonah found his call to become a thief exhilarating. So much so that it emboldened him to steal away with his ultimate prize---his true love, Bekah.

Although not being able to produce the necessary child as another despised man's wife, she was still in love with her childhood friend to risk it all in a forbidden affair.

And it is with Adonah, she is sure, from all of their stolen nights secreted away, wrapped in a kind of love that the old man could never give her, that Bekah finally conceived a child.

She conspired in her fear to trick her elderly husband into believing the baby within her was his.

But no---the proud master thief that Adonah had become in one short year had different ideas. He had already become far richer than he had ever imagined by this new profitable endeavor and he decided to pay off the old man with every cent of his escalating gold and treasure if it took it, to leave both bride and home to their new owner---him.

Then, Adonah and Bekah could live happily ever after, at long last. The orphan boy who had been longing for what had been stolen from him long ago was now to get his reward.

A new life. But that was never meant to be.

For one fateful day, the businessman had come home early to find his newly pregnant wife in the arms of another. Adonah was taken off guard and was socked on the head as his consciousness faded. He heard the old man's words screaming in his ears.

"You dare to blacken my good family name with this trash's child! You poor excuse for a woman! If you can't have my offspring, you will have no other!!!"

The sheer anger of her husband's voice was frightening enough to leave Bekah's dying screams ringing out in Adonah's ears as he is dragged away by the Pharaoh's own guards to prison at the man's request.

Adonah soon escapes them, but the stench of fresh blood that greeted his horrified eyes as he returned to her home, all over Bekah's bed and room, was proof enough for him to kill the man who had taken his only goodness, his only light, away from him.

The man drowned in his own blood as Adonah, now crazed, made certain with each dagger slice he left cruelly in the man's body, that it left him alive long enough to writhe in agony.

"You wanted an heir so much, old man? Here it is---your tombstone!"

Adonah could only remember the hatred burning from within, seething as he saw red crazed madness through eyes that could no longer live. He despised the sight of all new life, since it had cruelly stolen away his, in his mind.

Now all he craved for was death...

The seeds of evil were formed and he was no longer himself from that day forward.


	26. Chapter 26

We do not own "Yu-Gi-Oh!" nor any of its characters.

**Chapter 26**

_"Argh! Oof! Grr..."_

The three men's splattered bodies groan in pain from where they were thrown against the stone wall by the dark intruder who had swiped Serenity right out from under their noses. By the time they get to their feet, Shadi and Pagasus were beside them, torch in Shada's hand, illuminating the now empty, smoky corridors

"You all know who that was, don't you?" Yugi states more than asks Shadi and Pegasus who nod solemnly as both Joey and Kaiba take right off down the corridors. However, both soon come back empty handed and sour faced.

"Dead end." Kaiba says emotionlessly, though the strain on his heart was apparent in his face---a face that had both a split lip and reddened bruised cheek to show for the encounter, though he didn't feel the pain at all.

"No exits whatsoever! Dat guy sure can always come and go as he pleases. Damn jerk!" Joey swears his anger, pounding the nearest wall with a vengeance.

"His is a force to be reckoned with, in any time." Shadi says, then he suddenly cocks his head, his eyes rolling upwards as if his mind was communicating with another's.

"We must enter the palace immediately!" Shadi says in his enigmatic way, offering no further information as to the 'why.'

"I'm only going where I can find that Thief who stole Serenity. No place else." Kaiba roars at the balding man's upturned head.

"Ditto!" Joey raises a fist, nodding in total agreement once again with Seto Kaiba.

"Then you had both better follow my instruction." Shadi seemed to have gained a temper in this time travel soul jumping business, as he gives the pair of unruly men a stern eye as he turns on his heel, moved to haste by someone's words inside his head.

"Shadi, do you mean...? What he was saying about taking from me my 'greatest treasure?!' Shadi! Answer me!" It was almost a pitiful sight to see. The Pharaoh of all Egypt pleading with one of his advisors to give him advice. Yugi was shaking Shada's stiff shoulders, his own eyes dilating at the terrible realization of the Thief's final parting words. They weren't about the Pharaoh's Millennium Puzzle. No, that was around his neck at the time. That cursed Thief was speak of another, far greater treasure that belonged to the Pharaoh....and loved dearly.

"Ishizu is already on her way with Kareem--who you know as Odion. But we must hurry if we are to make it to their side in time to halt this unseen change of destiny." Shadi had already been leading the other four men from the catacomb of the dungeons up through the many staircases. They all were racing as fast as their heartbeats--Yugi especially, with a horrible feeling that history was about to be rewritten along with the lives of his heart, if he didn't get to his Tea fast enough.

Yugi, in his haste, taking two steps at a time, was only vaguely aware of his destined partners, Kaiba and Joey's longer legged strides just behind his speedy rescue race. Shada and Aknadin's aged body were trotting behind a close second and distant third.

_zzzzztttt '.....Ishizu?.....' zzzztttt_

Shadi suddenly pauses in his climbin run, as Pegasus nearly bumps into his back.

"Shadi?" Pegasus asks with concern at the usually calm and collected Egyptian's sudden emotional state.

"I fear we are too late." Shadi/Shada states as his psychic link with Ishizu/Isis is unexpectedly cut off. The logical man in him telling his mind what his just beginning to bloom heart didn't want to hear---

_'Ishizu?....Can you hear me?....Ishizu....respond!....Ishizu!!..........'_

But there was only silence.

"Stop!" A woman's sudden scream causes Tea to awaken from the strange displaced feeling she was overtaken with. Her head was splitting from the rining in her ears, so loud and cutting that felt as if time were standing still with the Thief's knives frozen in midair in the deathly plunge towards the little prince. Before her shocked eyes, her little son was to be taken from this world, taken away from her protective arms.

It was more than Tea's soul could bear--and suddenly time was frozen in an aqua haze of light. In her mind, Tea reaches for the glowing source of that intense sparkling. It bathed her in its aqua mists, calling for her to come to the light, as she selflessly prepares to merge herself with that power.

_Just touch the aqua sphere at the center of her soul---all would be complete...Time will be at your command, and your son will be saved...._

Tea's inner voice kept whispering that to her over and over, until a sharp, piercing scream breaks through her cloudy subconscious, calling her eyes to snap open and pulling her back to reality, just before she had reached the light.

The voice was Ishizu Ishtar's---or more precisly in this body, Isis, Priestess to the Pharaoh. Her future predicting ability got her there in just the nick of time for her to utilize the power of her Millennium Item to blind the Thief for the split second necessary for Kara to drop her own knife that was no longer pointed to Tea's throat, grab the babe in her own arms, whisking the little prince away away just as Adonah's daggers slash at Marik/Namu's back, slicing him open, bloody and hurt, as the Thief backs away in disgust. He had covered for Kara and Tea while Kara makes a getaway with the child.

"Master Marik!" Karim rushes to Marik's side as he appears behind Ishizu in the hall, just as Marik had fallen.

"Grrr! TRAITORS!!" The thief Adonah was growling viciously at his underlings' betrayal. His quick jumps land him directly in front of a fleeing Kara, holding the baby in her arms, with a look of sheer terror on her strong face as his sneering, angry one contorts maliciously. His daggers were now slashing towards the little one, not caring if he hit Kara as well in the process--on the contrary, actually aiming that he would, for it was not the first time he had carved a person up--and it would not be the last. His lust for blood was unparalleled.

"No!" Ishizu feels her spirit separate from he body at the vision of this strange girl being slain at this evil Thief's hand, as if this red haired, green eyed young woman was not a stranger at all. It was as if she knew her from long ago...and she, like her brother Marik, felt the need to protect her life.

An indigo blast of dark energy bursts from Ishizu's jet black eyes. Adonah was certain he had just glimpsed a first hand taste of the power he had overheard that blasted Magician Mahaad referring to earlier with his little apprentice.

_The magician was right. These woman you hold so dear have within them unheard of power. And I will strip at least one of them of it this night. If I cannot have vengeance one way, Pharaoh, for taking me away from my Bekah, then I will another way._

He thinks as he quick wittedly scans the room. His burning need for revenge allows him the ability to grasp hold of the Pharaoh's weakened body even as he is being flung backwards across the room and onto the balcony by Isis' dark energy blast.

Turning, he spots the epitome of all his stored hatred rush into the bed chambers. It was the Pharaoh himself, along with his seer, Shada, that stuck-up High Priest Seth, and the Pharaoh's dim-witted Captain of the Guard, Jono, gasp in horror at all the terror and dark devastation they believed him responsible for.

_Ah well, if it suits you to blame me for what powers your Priestess released, then so be it. I'll have one of your creatures of power one way or another this night!_

"Give Teana back, you thief!" The Pharaoh was growling at him. The entire group of courageous do-gooders were descending upon him on the balcony ledge until the thief pulls a quick knife to Teana's throat, threatening her life with one raised eyebrow directed at Atem, putting the ball in his court.

"You win, Thief. What do you want?" Yugi couldn't risk Tea like this. He knew from experience what an insane madman they were dealing with here, in this time especially. Pharaoh put him a halting arm, stopping the others from proceeding forward.

"Just this!" Adonah grabs Teana tightly by the chin, kissing her startled mouth so ferociously that she couldn't fight him off. His lips were hard and cold, and powerful as the knife to her neck never wavered as its sharp steel biting into her skin forced her not to pull away.

Yugi's eyes flame as he fights every urge to run and deck Tea's attacker. But the gleaming knife to her neck stops him as he growls, watching the intense kiss angrily.

"Here! I've had enough of her for now, Pharaoh! Soon, I'll take from you everything!!" Adonah flings Teana's back towards the group as if she were nothing more than a distraction, and uses this opportunity to escape.

"Wait! You scum! What did you do with Serenity?!!" Kaiba rumbles, ignoring Tea's plight, to dash onto the balcony and confront the thief himself.

"Oh, is that her name? I haven't done anything to her---yet. You see?" Adonah's quick legs leap around to the opposite side of the balcony ledge to where he had skillfully hidden Kisara's small body amongst the plumes of potted palms.

"She and her power are mine, High Priest!" And with that, the Thief scoops up Serenity's unconscious body in one fluid movement, leaping down several stories as Kaiba rushes to the edge to see....

.....Nothing....

"SERENITY!!!" Seth yells from the high balcony but no response comes except for the wind blowing through the Pharaoh's gardens below.

"Which way did he go?!" Jono's anxious voice yells out, as he runs up to where Seth was leaning over the railing.

"If I knew that, I wouldn't still be here jawing nonsense with an idiot like you, would I?!" Kaiba takes his wrath out on Serenity's brother. After all, Seto Kaiba was not one to 'feel' another's pain.

"Why, you--!!" Jono growls, his hands clench into fists at Seth.

"Lemme go! Lemme go!!! I'm stronger than I look, you know! You don't wanna get me made, you big, big---giant! Lemme go! Namu! Kara!" The kicking and screaming little boy that was making such a ruckus as he dangles from Mahaad's tall arm like an unwanted rodent being held by the scruff of his neck and back skirt interrupts the scene of two other 'little boys' about to scrap on the balcony ledge.

"Kubarin!" Kara cries, her hands and her heart both rather worn as she balances the young baby she had rescued in one arm and one knee, as with her other, she attempts to tend to her fallen comrade.

Yugi turns, and at that single glance from his Pharaoh, Mahaad drops the boy to the floor. Kubarin scrambles over to where Kara was leaning over his best friend.

"Kara! What happened to Namu!? Kara!" Kubarin's big eyes were wide with a fear he rarely felt as he sees the deep cut damage done to Namu's back, blood everywhere, while a big, oafy man was holding Namu up.

"That thief you think so much of did this to him!" Kara spits out her anger as she tries to dab the bloodied gash on Namu's back. Marik bites his own tongue so as not to scream from the pain. But he'd endured more before and his eyes convey a weak gratitude to Odion for catching his fall earlier. Odion nods at his injured master, no words necessary to pass between them.

"He was here in the palace all along. Forgive me, Pharaoh, but I wasn't aware of it until it was too late." Mahaad bows to his knees reverently but suddenly stands ups, his closed eyes flashing open.

"But I do have something he wants. The thief will let me find him so he can get his filthy hands on this! I'll use it as bait! He cannot be allowed to glean that dragon's powers!" Mahaad pledges as his hand motions to the Millennium Ring around his neck. "I will contact you when I locate him." He begins to dissipate into a cloud of lavender light as he encircles his magic wand around them in a sphere. His eyes meet Mana's, with the unspoken order for her to stay put.

"Master Mahaad..." Mana whispers, wishing that she could go with him, but she was his student and the teacher was always right.

_He just had to be!_ Mana bites her lip. Her friendship, no, her love for her childhood crush and mentor, caused her to fear for his self-sacrificing ways.

"Be ready for my call." He says to her, trusting in her new found skils as a dark magician to receive his contact later.

He moves out towards the balcony's ledge, and his Millennium Ring eerily begins to point in the direction that the mysterious thief faded into the shadows earlier. The five points of the Ring suddenly tug fiercely at his neck, finding their target.

Mahaad is just about to wave his long stick to give him the ability to fly through the atmosphere unseen when he feels a stiff hand on his tall shoulder.

"You're taking me with you." It's all Seto Kaiba in Seth's body says, his eyes dark and commanding. Mahaad considers the High Priest he'd always had so much confrontation with in the past with slitted eyes. There was something different about Priest Seth today, that burning determination and...yes, an emotion that Mahaad had no idea of was there as well.

_I've been told that emotion called 'love' is what either drives people to surpass themselves or it causes them to lose direction and fail. I have no need for that emotion to cloud my judgement, but I'll respect you for yours, Priest Seth._

Wordlessly, Mahaad, the strong, silent type of man, acquiesces. He quickly spirals his sceptre around the High Priest and himself, without command nor acknowledgement from his ruler, the Pharaoh.

But neither of these stoic men were the kind to ask permission nicely from anyone. They did as they felt necessary and lived by no one's rules but their own.

Such an opposing force was something the King of Thieves would soon have to deal with, as the Millennium Ring he's sought after and still as yet had not captured draws this mismatched pair through the shadows to his secret lair. For some reason, the Ring seemed to have an affinity for the mysterious thief.

"Whadda bout us?!! Hey! I wanna hitch a ride, too, Dark Magician!! Me too!!" Jono jumps onto the ledge ranting and raving and waving his arms around at being left behind.

_If Kaiba can go all sparkly in that lavender smoke, why can't I?! She's MY sista! _

His desire to fly and save his little sibling was so intensely burning, it lights a fire in someone's sleeping eyes. The Red Eyes Black Dragon's master was calling and her dragon sister creature of light was in need of salvation.

"J-joey? Get down from there before you fall and break your neck, you big galoot." Mai Valentine's saucy voice comes from the bed she had been so silent upon during all of this. Her love, her connection with Joey had called her from the depths of her mind back into the land of the living.

"Mai!" Joey nearly does fall from the shock of his girlfriend waking up so surprisingly, had not Yugi's arm steadied him. He scrambles up to her bedside with a yelp as he goes down on his knees.

"I'm all right, Joey, just tired. But where's Serenity? Someone in my head keeps telling me that she needs me. Some woman I never heard of--and when I heard your voice just now. I knew you needed me, too." Mai smiles weakly, letting her hand rest on Joey's cheek. He was shocked at how limp and clammy it felt. Mai was usually the most confident and strong woman he knew.

"Oh, Mai! That Thief Bakura guy snuck in the palace and stole Serenity--I mean, Kisara, right out from under us! I know these aren't our bodies and all, but Serenity's mind is in that body, so dat creep better not---!" Joey starts to blow a head gasket as he imagines all the things a ruthless jerk like the King Thief could do to his innocent little sister.

"Calm down, Joey. Kaiba and Mahaad are already tracking him down." Yugi says. Mana glances back and forth between the two men, wondering what it all meant.

_Aren't our bodies? Kaiba? Joey? Dark Magician? This is just all too much for my little brain!_

Shaking her head, she goes to where that red headed girl was holding the little Prince and takes him from her huffily.

"Here, my Queen." Mana tries to hand Teana her baby, but the queen's arms were so weak that she almost drops him as she collapses down onto the bed that Yugi had leaned her upon.

"You'll have to hold him for a while, Mana. I'm feeling a little dizzy." Tea smiles weakly giving Kara a grateful look.

"You saved my baby. I know it was a difficult choice for you--" Tea says touching the girl's muscular arm lightly.

"I--I just couldn't...at the last minute....one look at that little face. I couldn't do what he said." A tear comes to Kara's eyes to think that she ever could kill such a small child at that thief's request. She was now glad that something inside stopped her, despite the fact that she and her little gang were now sure to be outcasts amongst thieves. The threat of death at being a traitor to Adonah himself was now a frightening reality. Kara hugs Namu's heavy hand to her chest, praying for his pain to pass soon. There was nothing she could think of to do to ease his pain. Marik forces a smile up at her through his agony, but his bloodshot eyes open wide when they catch sight of Odion staring compassionately at someone else close by.

"Ishizu?" Shada was kneeling at her side already, cradling her passed out body in his arms. The Millennium Key around his neck was glowing as he lifts it to her head in order to investigate what happened to his partner just minutes before that caused her to collapse.

The interior of one's mind was somewhat of a map that only led in the direction of one's thoughts, no further.

No further, unless, that person in question's mind had hidden special recesses that even they were not aware of, and never before had Shadi realized that his soulmate, Ishizu Ishtar, was one such special person in that way.

"Ishizu? Where are you?" Usually by now, the much experienced mind invader that Shadi was could find the keeper of the mind he was exploring. But instead, Shadi finds himself wandering along the calm, peaceful roads of Ishizu's mind. Her thoughts were so clear and straightforward. She was so honest that the roads all only ran back and forth. Her past, her present, her future were all on one long highway--clearcut and predetermined. One long, straight highway---until now.

Shadi considers the three newly formed roads the single lane parkway had diverted into. He stops to read the neatly designated signposts.

~Ireneus  
~Isis~  
Ishizu~

_This makes logical sense. Ishizu is your own self, pointing forward to the brightly lit road. Isis is the present day ancient Egyptian priestess' body you are currently inhabiting, pointing towards the windswept desert side path. Now, who exactly is this 'Ireneus' that is pointing backwards down that dimly lit dark pathway? I must explore further. It could be an extension of what I felt earlier._

Shadi takes a step towards the third pathway, his sandaled foot swishing in the dark, swirling waters he was suddenly aware covered this dark road.

_Perhaps this is the road that will lead to my ultimate discovery. Wait for me, Ishizu. I am coming._

This was the best a stone-cold man like Shadi could show for concern. His eyebrows knitting as he begins to step along the dark mysterious way. The water level grew deep and deeper until he was wading waist high into its murky depths.

A faint whiff of Ishizu's scent leads him even further into her mind's hidden eye...


	27. Chapter 27

We do not own "Yu-Gi-Oh!" nor any of its characters.

**Chapter 27**

"I prayed you would come and visit me again someday, Sasamas. It's been such a long, long time..." A voice echoes, enveloping and eluding Shadi's consciousness at the same time.

He glances around his soul traveling spirit form quickly for any sign of the voice's owner. But somehow inside, this thought-provoking man already knew who she was. Through the darkness so black and thickly shrouded, the voice continued to beckon to this 'Sasamas' that Shadi was certain it was his ancestors' name in another time.

It was part of his destiny's soul that shared a part of someone's life. It was usually by bloodline and ancestry that this spiritual alignment of two linked souls could share a bond, when one special chosen could merge with the next chosen special one.

Such as the Pharaoh Atem shared this soulful bond with the boy named 'Yugi Motou.' They were two different people with two different souls---and yet they had traveled time and traversed space to meet one another because the call came. Both the Pharaoh and Yugi rose to the occasion to help mankind. To save the lives of others, either of them would give their all.

It is in the depths of such thoughts that has kept the wandering spirit known as Shadi traveling his long, unceasing road alone. But just the sight of Ishizu Ishtar within the Priestess Isis' body, both spirits unconscious now, gone from the one shell, had caused this emotionless man to question his own lonely road--and what lies beyond it. For she was the only person who has ever understood his journey and was now about to make a sudden stop upon it, never to travel beside him again.

"Sasamas, Sasamas? Why do you not answer my call anymore?" The voice was definitely Ishizu's though somewhat accented differently. No, it was not the Egyptian woman. Shadi strains his ears and suddenly feels as if he were not meant to understand the strange tongue she spoke to him in at all. Or was he?

"Is it I you are calling to? Have you been expecting me to come here? This is Ishizu Ishtar's soul you are within. State your name." Shadi calls out loudly. He was barely able to hear anything more than the crashing dark waves that he was now chest-level into. He blindly waded in, deeper and deeper, down the path of the murky ocean waters.

Now unaware of his surroundings, he listened intently for the trembling voice that had been leading his way all the while. Abruptly, the softly lilting voice pauses her chants and calls as if suddenly realizing that the man present was not the same as she had been beckoning to. He was speaking to her aloud and not communicating with her through their special bond.

"WHO ARE YOU?!! WHY DO YOU HAVE SASAMAS' AURA?!" The soft voice explodes into a ferocious torrent. The once calm waves, too, surrounding him were now splashing up, threatening him with a dark tidal wave on the suddenly stormy pitch black horizon.

Shadows on the ebony waters scatter in rainlike streams over him, threatening to drown Shadi's consciousness in the dark depths of Ishizu's mind forever...

"SHADI! Please stop this, Ireneus!"

_Ah, that's your true voice again--the one who has come to be so much...._

Shadi was prepared to be content to drown within her soul for an eternity.

"Shadi!" Ishizu's hand reaches for his flailing one in the dark waters. Shadi was fully aware that this was the real Ishizu Ishtar. She was the one who had become his partner in their quest to save both the Egyptian Pharaoh of the past and the present day mankind.

As her hand reaches for him, the moment she grasps hold of his hand, the ocean swirling around him rushes away, parting as she moves towards him. She was like an angel descending from the dark skies above. Her ebony eyes glow as she floats closer to him, wielding power in the landscape of her soul as she too was responding to the voice.

"Ireneus, this is Shadi. He is my partner and friend. He is to me, what Sasamas is to you." Ishizu states rather succinctly. Shadi cocks his head in wonder at the slight blush that rises, even visible in the darkness, over Ishizu's cheeks at her own words. "Please, show yourself to him as well and explain again what you just told to me. Shadi will know what to do--where to go from here. He will help us as he always does. Please trust him as you have trusted someone so much like him before. Understand, please, I feel the same feelings that you do. I dream the same dreams, although a millennia of time sets us apart. You believe in your love still as I would...in mine." Ishizu whispers almost inaudibly at the end. Her face was no longer blushing in shame, though. She spoke a clear truth and her black eyes lift up to greet the illuminated eyes of another presence approaching.

_The Egyptian Sanctuary of the Pharaoh's Tablet 2005 A.D._

"Wow! So this is the place. Thank you so much, Professor Hawkins for taking me on this tour. If I thought your study of Ancient Atlantis was a riveting class to take then your history of ancient Egypt's Pharaohs and hierarchy origins is certain to round out my final extracurricular summer semester as an archaology/mythology major."

The tall red-headed girl's effervescent enthusiasm when it came to her study of history was almost enough to take your breath away as much the scenic sphinx and pyramids that their vehicle was driving past.

Especially for Grandpa Motou. His big eyes were glued to the beautiful student with the stunning green eyes and curiosity of a kitten as he ogles her greedily.

Karen Morgan was indeed curious. She, since an early age, found a strange fascination with Atlantis--the myth and the legend. She had sought out the great Professor Hawkins as he was foremost scientist and researcher on all things Atlantis. She had become his most adamant student. She studied ever bit of research, every paper he'd ever published and had gone out of her way to attend every single lecture he'd ever given on the subject of the ancient city.

Okay, her strict study schedule and library research hours had left the bold redhead a loner with few friends her own age, especially since her high I.Q. and determination had allowed her to cram several years of high school study into an early diploma. She had already gained a degree at several highly rated colleges and now, at the age of 19, Karen was ready to grab her passion with both hands. What better start was there than getting an invite from her favorite teacher to accompany him and his old friend to begin study of another newly found catacomb in his most well studied excavation dig?

"Yes, Karen, my dear. I believe that between Atlantis and Egypt, I have discovered so many treasures of information I can retire proud that my children and their grandchildren to come will be inspired by the myths that now can be proven to be legends." Professor Hawkins looks into her youthful, eager eyes and sees why he began his archaeological career so many years ago in the first place. He was glad there would be another generation to take his place and carry on history's journey.

"Oh, come now, Arthur. Don't fill this pretty little girl's head with thoughts of your dull retirement. A youngster like her longs for adventure and daring in the road ahead with like adventurers like me. Not some old fuddy-duddy like you begging for his rocking chair in an old folks' home. Step on it before you're an old artifact yourself, Arthur. Better hold onto me, toots, in case the old fellow learns how to drive."

"Oh, Solomon, you are incorrigible." Arthur Hawkins laughs at his life long friend. Both were getting up in years now since their first adventure brought them together in this land of the kings. But Arthur was ready to capitulate to his age, though Solomon Motou would never admit defeat to it. The old curmudgeon still fancied himself a ladies' man, even at the ripe old age of 85 as he squeezes Karen's young hand in his old, decrepit one.

"A true adventurer never calls it quits, eh, Mr. Motou?" Karen was too tomboyish to notice the old man's efforts at romance. She patted his grey head with hair sticking out every which way, making his eyes bug out. "Tell me more about your grandson, Yugi. You say he had an ancient Pharaoh's spirit living inside him. For what? Two years? When did you first find out?" Karen whips out her handy little research notebook and pen, quickly flipping to her last info page, gleaned from first hand knowledge of the boy's grandfather.

"Oh, you want to hear about Yugi again and that Pharaoh of his. Oh, all right. Everyone wants to hear about Yugi..." Grandpa grumpily grumbles as he sits back in his seat and thinks about his valiant grandson's exciting life. "Let me see..." The old man whose memory was beginning to not serve him pauses before he begins.

"Oh! I know it all! It started when I was on a daring expedition and I singlehandedly made it through every challenge presented by the tomb with my wits alone. You do want me to go into detail about it, right my dear? It has so much excitement and---"

"She's heard the story of your derring do, Solomon. We all have--Lord knows how many times. Tell her about Yugi and the tablet we're about to see in person. Tell her about what miracle happened when young Yugi finally solved the Millennium Puzzle you found in that excavation. Tell her--" Arthur's English voice was exasperated at his best friend's heroic endeavors retold again and again at any given chance.

"Yes, yes, I was getting to that part, Arthur. Goodness, golly me! Can't an old explorer recall his own glory days before other usurpers try to do it for him? Hmm? I ask you." Grandpa does his 'I'm-throwing-a-fit-scene' as Karen chuckles and puts away her trusty pen. She had witnessed far too many arguments between these quarrelsome gentlemen before and knew she wouldn't get any new facts any time soon.

"Well, you'll just have to remember that you forgot to tell her some of your adventures at some other time, Solomon, for we have arrived." Arthur stops the car and opens the door for Karen, helping her out as Grandpa drools behind.

"I do hope it's everything we've described to you, Karen dear. Old warriors like us do tend to run off at the mouth on occasion." Hawkins politely smiles an apology at her.

"Oh, I'm sure it will be and more!" Karen returns the smile with a dazzling one of her own. The bright, blinding sunlight streaked down fire into her red blazing hair. She stepped out into the ancient lands and the ground itself seemed to tremble to her. Her enthusiasm and passion were so vivid that her curiosity was palpable in the sands beneath her feet.

_My greatest study is coming soon--I can feel it! Maybe it's here in Egypt, or maybe I'll find Atlantis like I've always wanted. Then, I'll dedicate my life's work to it--just like the Professor and Mr. Motou. I know something exciting is waiting ahead for me..._

Shaking both fists in anticipation, the fierce determination in Karen Morgan's eyes was radiant as the sunlight danced across every particle of sand covering the depths of the living earth beneath...

_A Few Miles Back from the Excavation Site_

"Are we there yet? Are we there yet? Are we there---!" Tristan Taylor was even getting sick of hearing himself say those three most annoying words in a driver's dictionary but it was all he could do to keep his weak tummy from offering donations to the high speed desert truck.

"NO, WE ARE NOT THERE YET!" Duke Devlin would've donated his fist, had he had a free hand not careening the vehicle down the sandy desert path.

"Miho is scared of cars that drive too fast." The blue haired, self-named girl's wails about Duke's finely honed 'driving techniques' were equally as annoying as Tristan's constant questioning.

Duke was getting pretty sick of his tag along buddy and newly refound old girlfriend.

_Just what Tristan needed---a loser for a loser. What a dumb chick._

"If we don't go fast, we'll never catch up to the others. How did I get mixed up with you losers anyway?" Duke grumbles as he steps on the gas even harder, as if to get even with his whiny passengers.

_Why'd you have to bring her, Tristan? Afraid you'll lose her again? _

"Well, we wouldn't be so late had you not been grabbed by the FBI for questioning at the museum for looking so suspicious then again, would we? I'm not the ladies' man who's been so busy flirting with the stewardesses at the airport to even notice he'd led us to the wrong plane runway! And then we had to run all the way in the opposite direction just to have the gate slammed in our faces! The next plane to Egypt wasn't for hours, Devlin! How could you talk about us being losers?!" Tristan starts spouting angrily at his so-called 'friend' who would be so low as to call his wonderful Miho a loser, now wonderfully, miraculously come back into his sad, lonely life.

_Miho is a terrific girl! She's just had some...issues. No more, though! I'll watch out for you from now on, Miho! I don't care what Duke says._

"Miho doesn't like being called a 'loser!'" Miho lets the waterworks loose. It came so easy to her to start bawling in the back seat.

"Now see what you've done, Duke! You lunkhead! Oh, Miho, it's all right! That big, mean Dukie didn't mean it!" Tristan half climbs over the seat to comfort the weeping Miho, while shooting Duke a dirty look as he went.

"Yeah, yeah, yeah, the big mean 'Dukie' did mean it. I'm beginning to think that women aren't worth it." Frustrated, the man chauvinist in Duke (who also thought that he was the greatest thing in the world since sliced bread) had had just about enough of women for the day, between the brainless sea of stewardesses trying to chat HIM up that got HIM late, to this wimpy weeper of Tristan's.

_Ooof, not a one of them were worth a single red penny in my book._

Duke shakes his head. The spurned loss of the long sought-after Serenity Wheeler---to Seto Kaiba of all people--was still preying on his mind. Not to mention the fact that he hadn't had a real relationship with a real woman in---

_Alright, never. So what is it? I'm gorgeous. I'm rich. I'm brilliant. I'm famous. I've got a magnetic personality. I'm just too cool all around. Why CAN'T I get a girl to dig me like that? I'm not asking for much. Just someone gorgeous, rich, famous, and cool, with a magnetic personality. Just like me. I guess there is no one that cool in the whole, wide world. Guess I'm a loner for life._

Duke smirks, half sighing to himself as he twirls the curl at his bangs. His thoughts often went speeding as fast as his car when he got to thinking about the touchy subject of women and the scary thought of a permanent relationship.

"Whoa! Duke! We're almost there yet!!! STOP!!!!" Tristan reformats his saying upon seeing the infamous sight he'd never forget--where Marik Ishtar and his sister, Ishizu, had first brought them on that fateful day.

_SCREEECHHHHH!_

Duke slams on the brakes hard. Miho's eyes roll around in her head as the car lurches to a stop.

"Come on! You heard what Kaiba's flunkie, Roland, said at the airport when Mokuba called! Something bad's got to be up to get the whole gang to jet here without telling their folks or us or anybody else." Duke says.

"Let's just hope we can lend a hand to help like we always do and save the day for the rest of the guys. They can't do it without us!" Tristan says with a confident wink at the periwinkle blue haired cutie hanging on his arm.

Miho strangely feels an icy chill shoot through her as she enters the scary dark inner corridor that leads to the sanctuary below...

"We've been extremely busy here preparing to launch our new research on the hundreds of new Egyptian artifacts that have just been brought into the light recently. And when I say 'new' artifacts, my dear, I only mean that the kindly Ishtar family have just, a few months ago, allowed us archaeologists and historians into their innermost secret Pharaoh's tomb--that the Ishtar clan, for over a hundred generations has kept a secret underground sect, keeping watch over his tomb and it's Millennium Item treasures of great power, awaiting the Pharaoh's return until his soul could finally find peace with this world."

"And now that he has, one of these...Ishtars?...is still alive and led you to one of the greatest discoveries in Egyptology? Wow. I'd love to be able to meet and work with him---or her." Karen's self-sufficient eyebrow raises with a smile to the Professor giving a lecture/tour/genealogy lesson as he and Grandpa Motou explain the sacred tablet in the front hall entrance, already deep within the Sanctuary's private areas.

"Ishizu Ishtar is the curator of her own museum, located in Tokyo, Japan, now. Perhaps you've visited it during our stint there at the Atlantis museum? Miss Ishtar's museum is one of the foremost places to study ancient Egyptian works during the reign of the Pharaohs. It is growing quite expansive now that all of these artifacts that have been hidden and locked away for centuries are now at our disposal to study and photograph. But of course, with only the utmost delicacy, and only a scant few are even allowed entry to these once sealed off areas. These Ishtars are very conscious of what sacred treasures we are allowed to take from the secret underground, especially that big one. I don't believe he likes our prying eyes there that very much." Professor Hawkins was in his element, rattling off details and tidbits of valuable information to his most eager student.

Both he and Grandpa watched with proud smiles as the young girl continues to scribble madly in her now full notepad, all of what they were saying, her curious mind would glean in later studies.

"Odion, you mean? Oh, he's a big teddy bear once you get to know him! It's Ishizu's **younger **brother that gives me the cold shoulder every time I just ask to see the carvings on his back. I mean, he's shown it to Yugi before, so why not his loving grandfather who can actually read the hieroglyphics imprinted upon him, hmm? Kids these days make no sense to me." Grandpa huffs at the possessive way a certain haughty blonde Egyptian boy refuses to allow him--or anyone--to study the painful markings etched on his youthful back.

"Hieroglyphics imprinted on his back? What!? Who?" Something about that caught Karen's interest. Her researching curiosity soared to new heights at the very thought.

"Yes, and all that historical research going to waste. Generation upon Ishtar generation have carved on the back of every male firstborn and this kid won't even let me see it!"

"Of course, Solomon, we must understand the boy's viewpoint. He's always speaking about fulfilling his honor and duty to the Ishtar name."

"Yes, yes, for the Pharaoh's eyes only. That sort of stuff. But it's frustrating for an old gent such as myself to be told by a young whipper-snapper I'm not to even glimpse an ancient artifact just because he's it! Well, you know what I mean, don't you, my dear?" Grandpa's twisted lip over Marik Ishtar's stubborness, turns into a winking smile at Karen. But she was on Cloud nine, already dreaming of being actually able to read hieroglyphics that had been passed down through this family, generation by generation, awaiting the unknown Pharaoh's return...

_Why does this all sound so...familiar....to me? Weird...._

Karen tries to shake off the strange feeling, though excited as she was to hear it, it was as if she'd already known about this ancient foreign ritual...and was somehow a part of it...

"Can you take me to this underground section where the Ishtars kept watch for all those thousands of years? I'd love to see the chambers first hand. Please?" Karen rarely used her almost non-existent feminine wiles for anything. But Grandpa Motou was an easy target as she bats her eyes a few times.

"Well....why not, Arthur? She'd make me a great assistant! And you and I are allowed in, so....."

"Sew a button on your shirt, Solomon! Do you want to anger your 'big teddy bear' of a friend? Well, I don't. So sorry, my dear, but we cannot betray the trust of the Ishtar family. We simply cannot take you down there without at least one of the surviving family member's express permission." Professor Hawkins was truly apologetic to his finest student's deflated hopes and dreams now sparked to a fever pitch only to be let down to the ground with a thud.

"Well you might as well come along! You're going to be taking all us there anyway."

Hawkins, Grandpa and Karen were startled by the man's voice in their midst. The elderly gentlemen recognized the two young men's faces immediately upon their dashed arrival into the Great Hall.

"Duke Devlin? Tristan Taylor? What are you boys doing here in Egypt?" Professor Hawkins asks the panting pair.

"Where's Yugi and the rest of the gang?" Grandpa looks around for his grandson that these two were rarely seen without.

"They're already here and probably in big trouble." Tristan says in his negative way. He perhaps, was hitting the nail squarely on the head this time, though.

"They're here? Trouble? What do you mean, Tristan?" Professor Hawkins was worried for his young friends.

"I'll tell you on the way down what we know. Get us to those secret rooms, pronto! It's a matter of life and death, fate of the world stuff again!" Tristan barked the orders so fiercely that the intensity in his eyes told both the Professor and Grandpa that this was no joking matter.

The old curmudgeons were quick on their feet as they hurriedly led Tristan, Duke, Miho and Karen down into the network of underground catacombs.

_Deep Within the Catacomb...Lost._

"Okay, this is getting freaky now. How did you get me into this, Mai?" Vivian Wong wonders to herself why she'd ever come searching for her so-called dueling partner in the first place.

_I mean, what kind of partner is that?! Just walking out on our WV Dueling Team? Why would you walk out on a Champion unstoppable team of gorgeous models/duelists like Mai and I? Mai and I--hey that rhymes! I am so cool._

Vivian Wong never had a problem with self-confidence. She was certain she was the best at everything she ever did. She was the smartest, prettiest, coolest, most fashionably capable karate chick that ever hit the scene. She had a black belt in martial arts, to boot!

_Hi-yaaah!!_

Vivian tries out a few graceful kicks in the empty, dank air. She wondered again after all of her self compliments why she was here, wandering lost.

_I am not lost! Just took a wrong turn back there. In some smelly, old, creepy, chilly cavern. This place reminds me of some bad sci-fi flick! Mai~ Why'd ya have to ditch me for that blonde airhead of a boyfriend? We were the best! People flocked to see our tag team dueling skills. We traveled first class--we were on international satellite TV! We stayed at the best hotels all over the world---wined and dined at the finest five star restaurants by the finest five star hunks and Hollywood types! We were even on the covers of all the magazines! And you ditched all that glamour and fame to romance some low-class waiter at a restaurant that was lucky to be rated even two stars on a good night! Mai, honey, how the mighty have fallen! For that chump, Joey Wheeler, no less!! He may have been ranked second in Duelist Kingdom, love, but second is just a number---just a digit. It's only Number One that means fame and fortune! And there is NO man that's worth giving up that or your freedom for._

_Sigh_

Vivian allows herself a little daydream about that studly Yugi Motou who was the only one ever to beat her at any game. Sure, he was short and too cutesy, but he had 'it' and a lot of 'it' to spare. After all, Yugi Motou was always a winner.

_Why I can't find a guy like that? With the same dreams and passions to win like I do? No one will really ever understand me, I guess. Not even the gal pal who walked out when we were on top of the world--all for that loser Wheeler. I've tracked you down to this weird place, Mai. I am NOT going to let you throw you life away on some undeserving man. Sure, they're fun to flirt with, but Honey, not a single one is worth the make up job and perm! Not unless he's a winner....like Yugi...._

"ARGH!!! This place is an endless maze!! Oooh, focus, Vivian, focus! It's soooo dull to look around dead rocks and carvings. Where's the greenery? Where's the vitality? Someone's definitely got to do something about your decor, people!" Vivian practices a few more karate moves as she zings through the dark corridors. Her swift sense of smell suddenly picks up a whiff of--

"YES! That's your oh-too-flashy perfume, Mai Valentine!! I'd know it anywhere! Oh, honey! That trashy perfume the best thing I've smelled for AGES. You and I are team partners and no man is going to break up our dueling magnificence! Wong and Valentine will be back in the headlines soon, public! So watch out!" Vivian's flair for the dramatics sends her Chinese body kung fu-ing down the corridors. She practically bounced off the walls and ceiling in her perfect balance of athleticism and beauty in her enthusiasm to reclaim her 'stolen' partner and colleague. She was determined to get Mai back, even if it meant she had to karate chop her away from that dumb boyfriend.

Little did Vivian know what was awaiting her rusty brown eyes up ahead in the darkness...


	28. Chapter 28

We do not own "Yu-Gi-Oh!" nor any of its characters.

This Chapter is rated M (not for children). Please continue on with caution.

**Chapter 28**

_**Deep within the underground sanctuary shrouded in total darkness, save for one wick on an ornate golden candelabra...**_

**"Do you believe in g-g-ghosts, Ryou?" A young girl's usually snobbish, know-it-all voice was small and slight within the darkened chamber, almost as small and slight as her petite frame.**

**"Spirits, you mean? Well, I must say, I do believe I've had dealings with one or two in the past myself, though I don't always recall how or what happened in those situations. And yet, I am a believer that there are otherworldly forces quite beyond our comprehension out there."**

_**Gulp...That didn't help...**_

**Rebecca Hawkins, a college graduate with a bachelor's degree in just about anything there was; a highly respected teacher and noted scientist at such an early age was definitely not the squeamish type whatsoever. She based her theorems on science and reality in logic and-**

**"EEK! Did you hear that, Ryou?" Rebecca's little body leaps up from the corner she and her lavender-haired companion were huddled alone together, close to the singular light in the room. (Not to mention the fact that the two of them were the only ones left conscious amidst the sea of fainted, passed out bodies of their friends. That was an eerie fact that both Ryou Bakura and Rebecca Hawkins had been trying hard to ignore.)**

**Dark, dank, and smelly corridors and frightening shadows cast by the dimming candlelight bounced on the ancient Egyptian statues and carvings on the walls, accompanied by the empty, soulless bodies-leaning and littered across the ground. The silence in the crowded room was almost deafening. And it all worked together to leave them both with a macabre taste in their dried lip mouths of something terrible to come...**

**"Did I hear what, Miss Rebecca?" Ryou whispers to hear in urgent, English tones. His own fear, though a bit abated by her trembling little body being thrown into his arms suddenly, at the sharp sound of a creaking doorway opening, and then the staccato sound of echoing footsteps resounding in both their keenly listening ears, as they clutch each other tightly. Neither one quite realized that they were embracing in such intimate, close quarters, for the fear that gripped them...**

**"That!" Rebecca hisses, like a frightened child in his arms, pressing even tighter against him. She soon buries her head into his chest, too overwhelmed by her own pounding heart in her ears, and hearing his, as the footsteps grow, ever nearer.**

_**Gulp...**_

**"Yes, I hear it now. Someone is coming." Ryou Bakura was, by no means, a girly man, nor a chicken, but he wasn't exactly Mr. Tough Guy either. But for this sweet girl, he would try to be. For Miss Rebecca he could do anything-even be someone bold and adventurous that he was not.**

_**For Miss Rebecca's sake, I must do this!**_

**"Who goes there?" In a precise, clipped voice (that only cracked once) Ryou orders a reply in his most commanding voice, as he stands to his full, five-foot-seven height, as if defying any wandering spirit from descending upon he and the young lady he was protectively holding to him in his arms. Rebecca felt completely under his control as Ryou lifted her crouching body up off the ground they were huddled in, as if she was weightless.**

_**Oh, Ryou, you're wonderful!**_

**Rebecca can't help this stray thought from entering her scared-silly consciousness. She gave her lavender haired crusader a pair of adoring eyes at his fiercely determined, but still so cute, face barking orders.**

**It was a look that the first intruder to enter the darkened sanctuary is also aware of, for it was the young girl in question's sole living guardian. Her own grandfather watched his own little Rebecca give some young man who was unknown to him, her most puppy dog love face in the darkness they were embraced in.**

**"Rebecca? What **_**are**_** you doing...here?" Professor Hawkins queries of his protege genius of a granddaughter. He was none too certain at this moment if he had educated the teenager correctly in some fields other than her blindingly quick climbed ladder into grown up studies...**

**"Gramps? That's my grandpa, Ryou!" Rebecca sings out happily, extricating herself from one man's embrace into another, more familial one. She merrily skipped over Yugi Motou's fainted body in the path to her 'Gramps.'**

**The symbolism in which the professor in Professor Hawkins pushes aside, as the flashlight he was carrying for their little group is redirected from Ryou's shielded-eyed face to scan the rest of the room, only to find many disturbing sights, littered across the floor, starting with Yugi Motou's prone figure.**

**"Yugi!" Grandpa Motou rushes to Yugi's side. He lifts both Yugi and Tea's intertwined hands, to check their pulses. "Thank Heavens! They're alive!" Grandpa announces, relieved.**

**"It's just as if they're all experiencing some kind of mass catatonic unconsciousness. It's weird." Karen comments as she checks pulse after pulse, once they had set the lantern up to enlighten a good part of the chamber. She marvels at the tall body of a man still holding a pretty little red-head in his arms, leaning against the far wall. Even in unconsciousness, he managed to still embrace the girl he obviously cared about.**

**"Hold on a minute...this is...Maximillion Pegasus!" The silver haired face of that particular man was etched on Grandpa's memory from past experience; and Solomon Motou was more than surprised to see his mug amongst the usual group of friends. Seto Kaiba, perhaps-the young man often joined Yugi's group of friends, more of late, now that he had this blossoming relationship with Joey Wheeler's cute little sister.**

**But rich, multi-million-dollar gaming tycoon, Maximillion Pegasus? This required further investigation. He had a bone or two to pick with the one-eyed loony.**

**"What's this? Arthur! He has-!" Grandpa had 'unintentionally' kicked Pegasus' arm out of his way clumsily.**

_**Hey! An older man is allowed to kick a younger man, even when he's down! Especially if he's a mean younger man, anyway!**_

**In doing so, he caused the man's head to tilt, his silver hair that usually obscured his face was flopped aside to reveal-**

**"The Millennium Eye! Yes, Solomon, if you would observe, many of these individuals are in possession of the Millennium Items that we believed were lost and buried beneath the rubble of the museum, under Ishizu Ishtar's care, three years ago."**

**"But...how?" Grandpa was well aware of his and his grandson's role in these mysterious Items of great power. He was aware of the danger and trouble that puzzle he brought home from his own archaeological expedition as a younger man had brought on his grandson, Yugi.**

**But at the same time, he was also aware of the bonded friendship between Yugi and that ancient Pharaoh that had changed the course of his timid and friendless grandson's life.**

**"If it's all right with you, Sirs, I believe I can explain...to the best of my ability, anyhow." Ryou Bakura's kind and modest voice was a reassurance to Professor Hawkins, and his polished English accent helped, too. Hawkins was proud of his own British roots.**

**But there was something else about those brown eyes of his...**

**"Oh, and do forgive me for not introducing myself earlier. I'm Ryou Bakura-"**

**"Bakura! You're Zane Bakura's boy, aren't you? Of course! The resemblance is unmistakable!" Professor Hawkins was referring to one of his fellow archaeologists, whom he had met on one of his Egyptian expeditions. He was a dark, blue haired Englishman who was always speaking about his young son's interest in his work. **

**"You're right, Arthur! I never did think about the boy's background before!" Gramps slits his eyes, studying Ryou.**

**"Yes, yes, I am." Ryou blushes under the attention directed at him. He and attention were two things that rarely intersected. His father was the only family he had left, now that his sister was gone, but was constantly absent from Ryou's life, in his own driven explorations of this foreign land.**

**"Well, I say! Your father is one of the finest, most dedicated archaeologist's I know, Ryou. I'm Professor Arthur Hawkins, one of your father's oldest friends, and of course, you must already be acquainted with Yugi's grandfather. I suppose you are one of Yugi's schoolchums?"**

**Ryou nods, both to the question and to Gramps, with a soft, timid smile.**

**"And this over here is Karen Morgan, one of my finest new students."**

**Karen nods to the boy across the room as she continues to study the others. **

**"Tristan and Duke, and little Miho, were with us for awhile, just a few minutes ago. But they thought they heard someone in a side corridor and decided to investigate. I think those boys got themselves lost again. Oh, well." Grandpa puts his hands up in the air, giving up on Yugi's friends by now.**

**"Losers..." Back to her old self, Rebecca rolls her eyes at the thought of them.**

**"So, what were you going to explain to us, Ryou? Please go on." Professor Hawkins gives his granddaughter's comment a disapproving frown. Rebecca immediately stands and straightens her skirt like a proper college graduate, professional lady, as if she didn't just call those 'gentlemen' by such a childish, taunting name.**

**"Oh, yes, Sir!" Respectfully, Ryou nods as he helps Grandpa lean Yugi and Tea up against the middle step. Karen had already taken care of most of the rest-sitting them up at least, against the nearest wall, though she had a hard time with Odion's big, bulky body, but at last, he too, was up.**

**"You see, it all started back in Domino City, at an art exhibition. I was supposed to meet up with Yugi and the others. But instead I met with Rebecca-eh, um, Miss Hawkins. There was some sort of bomb threat and-"**

**"That's where all the madness began!" Rebecca finishes his sentence. The two combined to tell the story to the eagerly listening gentlemen and Karen, in the candlelit darkness of the ancient chambers...**

_**Travel back to an ancient time again...**_

**Ever since her sickly, early youth, Serenity Wheeler was accustomed to being carried around by men-from her brother to her doctors to her friends. Little, lithe Serenity was never to be an unwelcome burden to carry around. At least she tried so not to be. Although her childhood was marred by an abusive father and divorced parents, Serenity still trusted men, believing even in the case of her drunken parent, that there was still good within their souls. A goodness, an inner light, that just needed to be nurtured and set free from the barriers their respective hearts put up as a defensive wall against the outside world.**

**Yes, Serenity's optimistic outlook on life, despite her family problems, despite her ill health and blindness, shined as a beacon of light within every darkness. **

**The sheltered darkness that once pervaded Seto Kaiba's heart was no exception, for her dazzling light had brought love into his soul.**

_**Seto...?**_

**Serenity slowly comes to, from her fainted unconsciousness. Her groggy mind automatically assumed that the man's chest she was tightly pressed against must be that of her boyfriend. She found refuge in his arms more often of late, and not always for any sickly reason exactly. It was just simply because he enjoyed holding her tight in his strong limbs.**

**And Serenity enjoyed it right back. Her Seto's tall form pressed against hers was such a comforting feeling...**

**But to Serenity's sudden, horrible realization, the feeling she was getting was NOT the one of comfort or gentleness, that her love gave to her constantly. No, this was a different feeling entirely.**

**Serenity was about to let out an ear-splitting scream in her fear of the unknown.**

**"Nn, unngh, unngh-Can't have any of that! Wouldn't want any unwanted trespassers discovering the hidden entrance to my most secret hideout, would we, my dear?" The voice was almost a familiar one but Serenity couldn't quite place it. It was so dripping with evil intent and a sneer attached to almost every word. **

**Nor did she care to, as a decidedly rough hand clamps over her mouth, tightening his grip around her now squirming body, until she submits to his powerful grasp.**

**In the pitch black darkness of the sleeping city, the man easily finds his way to his intended destination. He violently kicked in the door as a darkly cloaked servant of his quickly closes it, bolting it shut as to conceal this lair of darkness, this den of thieves, from the world once again, as he carries her deep into the catacomb, down a long flight of stairs.**

**Serenity tries to struggle in the ebony darkness again as her kidnapper offhandedly tosses her onto a soft mat of fabrics that might be called a bed. Her numbed legs quickly scramble to run, now that he had finally let her go. But her quick was nothing compared to the swiftest hands a thief had ever known.**

**He looks down at her, as the smile glowing in his eyes was a memory.**

**She had grown into quite a beauty since last they had met. But Serenity Wheeler's mind within Kisara's body was unaware of it. Kisara knew this Master Thief very well indeed. He though, was one who would never forget the day that ultimate power was given him-the ultimate unmatched power that gave him the promise of power to seek out the vengeance his soul longed upon the cruel world that had left him with nothing, time and time again...**

_**I will have my revenge on this world that stole you away from me, Bekah...wait and see...I will have that power. She will give it to me again. I remember it well, that day...when I happened upon a white haired maiden stranded in the desert, under the unforgiving rays of the sun, where she was to die, if not for me...**_

_**In Adonah's memories...**_

The desert sands were hot and arid to the touch, especially upon the soft skin of the slip of a girl who was unaccustomed to travel in the unknown territories of the desert. She had not been here a long time, due to the fact that her hair was a strange shade of a light color in a dark land.

Kisara had never thought to return to these lands of her persecution, once she had made it safely back to her home in the mountains, with her people, after escaping her capture at the hands of those ruffians. All thanks to a boy's courage and caring-a boy named Seth.

It was because of him that she was able to leave Egypt and live-and it was for him that she would return to Egypta and perhaps die-for him. For that boy who she promised one day to repay his kindness.

Something inside her was telling her the time he needed her most was coming soon.

"I must...I must...get to you...Seth...You need me..." Something inside, a light within, continued to press her forward. However, there were limits to the body, even if the soul was willing.

"Oh! Ahhh..." There was an oasis in the middle of the desert sands. Kisara was certain and had been certain of it, for miles. But the closer she and her poor overheated horse drew to it, the farther it seemed to be. Kisara began to both doubt and falter. Her physical body was exhausted from both burning heat and weary travel.

Kanna, the old Arabian steed that was once his, all those year ago, he had given to her, was too, losing both strength and the will to go onwards into the illusionary nothingness, as both horse and rider succumbed to the elements...

He had managed to escape both prison and death several times in his young life already. The death defying Adonah Bakura's quest for wealth and power went hand in hand with his now growing thirst for blood and veangeance-a veangeance upon those who wronged his very soul, damning it to an overwhelming anger and seething revenge that day they killed his Bekah-and in doing so, they killed whatever good was in a young boy. His light dimmed into darkness for eternity, in that wretched hour of his love's loss.

For the spirit of goodness that was in Adonah had not an ounce of fight left, with her gone. When the interloping force of evil came and corrupted his sorrowful heart, his meaningless existence.

Good Bakura died inside with every thought, every memory. They were all stained in crimson blood. His heart was drowned in the thick red bile of those he killed, and the blood of the one he loved that began this nightmare, most of all.

_Bekah..._

It was becoming harder for him to see the pure beauty of her face, without the imagery of hot blood and cold death running down her sweet, plump cheeks. His imaginings of her death, though he never did see her dead body, all he could see was the blood some night out here on the lam. All he could smell, all he could taste, was the life's blood of his darling lover who had been slain by the foul devil of an old man who deemed to call himself her husband.

_Hah! Husband! I was more of that to her that you, you old fool! I was the one her heart belonged to! I was the one she clung to so many nights of passion that you could not give her. I was the one she welcomed in as the father of her child-not you. Me! And I had my revenge, didn't I, old man? Didn't I?_

His madness was spreading as Adonah dunked his entire head beneath the cool, oasis waters. His tattered prisoner's meager clothing and dirt-streaked body were cleansed in the streams but it wasn't water he felt submerged within. His sickened mind saw the clear, bluish hues of the swirling liquid surrounding him only as blood-redder and darker, and more disgustingly despised than any other substance in the world.

And yet, since that day, there was something growing within him that longed for it-lusted after the blood of every single man who had ripped Bekah from him. All he needed was the power to rain their destruction down upon themselves. And he was the one who was going to twist the knife-upon the guards that had dragged him away, the elders and priests who had sentenced him, and most of all, upon the Pharaoh and his family.

_I will have my veangeance! For Your Majesty's orders for your guards to take me away when my Bekah needed me most! You will pay for her death someday! When I get up the power, you will pay! In blood!_

Adonah Bakura rises his soaked body from the oasis waters. The waters were dripping off his muscular form, and the innocent boy turned hardened man in the darkest of way, for strife and despair had turned his vengeful heart black.

When his sadistic eyes rise above the water level, Adonah spots a strange vision indeed. A woman, for the length of her hair and the shape of her body, astride a horse far more brown than her pale, untanned skin showed him. But it was her striking color of hair-or lack of color to be more precise, that caught his attention first. There was certainly something about this female that captured his attention, as though there was some other presence within her...

_No..._

Adonah shakes off this strange thought. The chivalrous side in him-and yes, there were still a few drops of chivalry when it came to a woman-leaps from the water he was immersed in, like a lion stirred from his sleep, rushing, although dripping wet, in leaps and bounds, on the wind, to the fainting woman's side, arriving just in time to catch her descent from the horse, before her exhausted body fell to the sinking sands.

"I've got you." He whispers in a soft voice, that he had not used since...since that last night he was with his Bekah. It was a kind, compassionate voice that this master thief no longer knew existed within him. For the boy he was then, the one that Bekah knew and loved, was all but a memory. That boy, too, died on that day.

But though, now, there it was. A tiny smattering of compassion, a minute trace of kindness that lifted and carried the sun-exhausted girl to the oasis. There was a strange sense of recognition, that tingled his skin and ran through him as he kneeled with her delicate frame onto the banks of the shore. Tenderly, he lays her body down and looks down at the girl's semi-conscious form, her vulnerable pose. At the first touch of her bare skin to his, Bakura feels a new energy surge into his own body, as his arms wade her overheated body lightly into the oasis waters.

Carefully, he submerges the girl, without allowing her head to go under, as he walks into the water with her. Upon the touch of the cool water to her skin, Kisara wakens. She was startled to find a man so close to her, a man whose lavender hair and piercing eyes, combined with an aggressive masculinity, takes her tired breath away.

His eyes widen at the rush of energy he feels through his fingertips on her trembling cheek. Suddenly, all at once, he knows he must have her power.

"Who are you...?" Kisara's blue eyes open in shock.

"More importantly, my dear, who are you? And what secrets do you hold for me to discover...?" Adonah's voice goes all low. His eyes look her over and feel her energy, her power, as he basked in the energy her touch had awakened.

The wet droplets glistened so purely in his hair reflected the sparkles of the sun's last ray of light. Kisara felt so completely overwhelmed by his presence. His hot breath was sweet and alluring on her neck, as he begins to nibble it. She felt as if he was draining her very life force as he presses his body to hers within the swirling waters, cascading down both of them.

What was the fantastic aura of magic that surrounded this person, was the Thief's thought. Yes, she was beautiful to the touch and warm to the senses, much like his Bekah. But not as perfect as Bekah was. No one could ever replace his Bekah.

He was becoming a more dangerous man with each passing second. In his mind, he saw and felt only Bekah, feeling her again with each touch.

_This is the energy I require! This is the pure power I must have!_

Adonah was no longer concerned about being a gentleman-for a thief had no moral bounds, except for one-whatever you lay hands upon, is by rights, yours.

"Your energy is mine, succumb to me!" Adonah's greedy lust for power, lays his hands upon the white-haired, now unconscious girl, no longer struggling. Kisara was far too weak and overwhelmed to fight back.

This new level of evil inside him, spares her life, knowing that he might require her powers once again. He had stolen a portion of her powers and given her something in return...

_**Back to the present...(or is it the past...?)...**_

**"I am going to have to tie you down after all, aren't I? And here I thought we could spend an enjoyable evening together-just like last time...Ah, well, all I wanted then was your energy. That's all I want again now..."**

**There was something sinister in the Thief's voice that Serenity definitely did not like. His lowly hissing voice in her ear spoke too familiarly to her, touching her like he had done this before.**

**But Serenity did not know Kisara's past with this man. He only reminded her of a snake in the darkness as she feels his now coarse and calloused hands expertly tie her arms over her head, to some sort of wooden post. He roughly shoves her down to the makeshift bed she was trying to scramble from.**

**Somehow he managed to see perfectly through the darkness, as if he were part of it. Serenity heard him snicker at her as he scoops up a thin piece of cloth and ties it around her mouth, tightening the knot as her eyes bulge at seeing his face so close and clearly. He lights a single candle and holds it eerily beneath their chins, alighting the evil intent in his eyes, and the helpless fear in hers.**

**His lifts the candle's flame close to her face in a veiled warning for her to keep absolutely still and silent under his will, smirking at her clearly shown fear of him.**

**"I had saved you before, and you will now offer me the rest of your powers, Priestess of the White Dragon! In fact, you will beg me to strip them from you before this night is done! I won't stop this time until I acquire all of it!" **

**Serenity's mind shrieks silently in the dim candlelight as her captor impatiently thrusts the candle down to the ground. His hands shoved her struggling body hard to the floor, as they begin to roughly touch her. Threats were in his maddened eyes as he begins violently tearing away her already meager clothing, clawing at her with anger and vengeance and power, and the need for more of it to fulfill his evil plots.**

**This White Dragon girl named Kisara would give it to him. So possessed with evil he had become, he cared for nothing else but raw power. **

**"Believe me...I do this only for power. One way or the other, I will possess every ounce of you-just as you gave it to me before. And you will scream for me to take everything-at my very whim!"**

**Looking into his eyes, Serenity feels like she's looking into that of an animal. She shrieks, blurring into tears, as she feels the overwhelming power of his body begin to press against her. He hisses in her ear taunts of submission and his teeth bite deeply into her earlobe as pain shoots through her.**

**He holds her shoulders and kicking legs down, as Serenity wishes she could just die rather than be marred by this evil snake's viciousness. He seemed to want something from her that she didn't even possess! All that was left for her screaming mind were the tears as strong, rough hands pull at her body. **

**The one prayer burning inside for her true love to come and save her, as she called out her Seto's name, over and over in her mind, in frantic hysterics, to rescue her innocence, even in another's body, before it was too late!**

_**Seto! Seto! Seto...save me!**_

_**Seto...save me...Seto...**_

**It was Serenity's soul crying out to her destined love-and her love hears her desperate plea.**

**"Serenity!" Seto Kaiba's fiercest voice was obvious in Priest Seth's more polished tones. He raced across the darkened room and kicked the Thief in the gut, from atop Kisara's bared body before Adonah even has time to register the High Priest's entry into his most secret lair.**

**Rolling over, Adonah quickly recovers. He lived on the streets a long time for this stuck up aristocrat to get another chance at the upper hand. Swifter than a serpent and just as wily, the Thief scoops up both discarded robe and the knife hidden within its folds, already slashing at Kisara's angry lover, as the Priest blindly attacks with crushing blow, after crushing blow with the only item in his hand.**

**It just so happened to be a Millennium one. The Millennium Rod's golden glint in the candlelit darkness caught the sneaky Thief's eye.**

**"Well, then, allow me to conquest something else that belongs to you, High Priest." Adonah says through clenched teeth. His sneer was as cruel as his lightning speed hands were fast, as they grab hold of the sought-after treasure and uses his running momentum to hurl himself and Seto to the ground. Both rolled in the dirt of the floor as they vy for superiority in the battle. Anger and fists were rising and the Thief, expert in hand-to-hand melee combat from all his youth's street fighting, ends up on top. His knife was quickly produced from his robe's cache of weapons.**

**Seto struggles to keep the silver dagger from plunging into his heart, but wily and determined, raw strength filled Adonah's quick wrist. He was a match for even this more muscular Seth's prowess, as the bony Thief's knife continues to press down, shaking against both their tensely struggling arms. But Adonah had the upper hand as he said. Gravity works with his downward push, and Seth loses control as the knife stabs dangerously closer to his chest. **

**With one hand, each grasp onto the Rod and the other hand locked onto the plunging knife. Keeping up the tension, Seto glances around when he sees his Serenity's naked form weeping silently. She was still bound and gagged on the makeshift bedding on the floor.**

**But she was saved-one look in her crying, yet crystal clear eyes that were now blue, told Seto that she was there and praying for his victory and his safety. She needed him to overcome the scum of the earth, who tried to, who DARED to-**

**"GRRRRR!"**

**With Serenity's pleading belief coupled with his now flaring anger, heroic Seto feels that surge of power course through his veins. His Millennium Rod, though useless against the Diabound Thief, begins to glow. The light of which blinds the Thief for a moment and that's all the time Seto needs to let go of the Rod and grab at the candlestick on the ground nearby.**

**Seto grinds the candle's flame deep into the Thief's open neck and into his hands as Adonah screams in pain, pulling back. His singed hand drops the Millennium Rod to the ground that he was greedily grasping, to instead cover his now blistering neck, and his equally blistering palm.**

**"ARGGGGHHHH!"**

**The Thief lets out a painstreaked bellow as Seto overpowers his weakened form and takes the knife from his hand, stabbing Adonah in his upper thigh to immobilize him, at least for awhile. The Thief cried out as he doubles over in pain. **

**Seto, satisfied that he was down, takes the bloody knife and rushes to Serenity's side, cutting her arms loose from the bonds, above her head. Serenity's arms drop over herself as Seto encircles his arms around her trembling body. He pulls her close in a strong, yet tender embrace.**

**"Are you-?" He whispers in her white hair, anxiously feeling her shoulders tremble against him relief. **

**"Seto, I knew you would come. I knew it..." Serenity breathed on his chest, crying wet tears against him as she faints in his arms-that safe feeling of holding him was back again.**

**"Master Seth! Have you located the girl! Ah! I see you have! All the thieves and ruffians have been nullified." Mahaad was a quick study and rather blase when it came to things concerning women. His cold, calculating eyes only scanned Kisara's naked, frail form, wrapped in High Priest Seth's arms as Seth rips off his cape and covers her with it.**

**"Including this one. I took care of...him?" Kaiba was certain that he had knifed and pummelled the Thief King enough to keep any sane man down for at least a few moments, when he left him, to untie Serenity. And yet-Adonah was nowhere to be seen.**

**"Who?" Mahaad's attention goes straight to his own Millennium Item-the Millennium Ring around his neck, which suddenly lights up in the darkness. It's five prongs shake to life as they begin to slowly point around the room.**

**Seto and Mahaad's eyes follow its trajectory, until the five points of the Ring point straight upwards. It was a moment too late for Mahaad, though. The tall servant of the Pharaoh went down under the Thief's dead weight that just dropped out of the sky. He drop-kicked against Mahaad's head and it was enough to knock the Egyptian man down. The Thief had hidden in the ceiling rafters above the Dark Magician as Adonah bites back the pain, used to doing so, of the burns and stab wounds that blasted High Priest had caused. He rises from his descent, not even feeling the pain stabbing in his upper thigh anymore. He was too elated from finally gaining his most sought after Millennium Item at last. He yanked the Ring from Mahaad's unconscious neck and flung it around his own. He stoops to pick up the discarded Rod as well, just for good measure, as he backs Seth and Kisara against the back wall, sadistically smirking.**

**"Thank you sooo very much, High Priest. Two Millennium Items and a dragon, dropped right into my proverbial lap, as well as my own private lap-dog. Adonah smiles evilly, pointing the Rod at Seth and his little girlfriend. The Millennium Necklace around his neck glowed brightly for its evil Master...**


	29. Chapter 29

We do not own "Yu-Gi-Oh!" nor any of its characters.

**Chapter 29**

**"Serenity, get behind me." Seto, in Seth's body, begins to back into a corner. HIs muscular arms and hands steer the white haired girl behind him, as she obeys immediately. His arms were still wrapped protectively around her trembling body, gently pushing backwards as he maneuvers them both in the opposite direction of the Thief in the darkness.**

**"You can hardly hide from a creature of the darkness within his own element, fool nobleman! I suppose it's true what they say about you always being second in line to everything-brains included!" The thief insults his prey purposely, in order to have the angered priest expose himself by the sound his snakelike senses was so easily attuned to, than to merely toss out insults for the sake of it. Deceit and trickery were both part of this thief's style.**

**"Ha ha ha ha! Not that that matters anyway. Once I get my hands on the dragon whose power you want to claim for yourself. You need not worry about that anymore. I will be the only Pharaoh in this land! You and your sniveling little cousin will bow at my feet in compensation for all the humilation done to me in former times! If you're still alive at the time, that is. Ha ha ha ha!" Adonah was chuckling as he offered the bait. His crazed eyes picked up a moment of something white reflecting in the darkness upon his glowing Millennium Necklace.**

**"You should be more grateful to have me, Kisara, rather than the icy cold pompous High Priest deceiving you into his trust. He, after all, wants the same thing as I-your power." The thief chuckles again as he thrusts out the stolen Millennium Rod, twirling it between his fingers as if he had owned the golden rod all his life, and it was no more than a child's toy. But far from a toy, it was Adonah spinning the rod into the darkness until his Millennium Necklace's five points decided his aim.**

**"Ironic, isn't it? You will die by your own rod. Farewell, High Priest..." He hisses out his fatal blast, his own calculating mind risking everything on a bet. **

_**But I always was a gambling man... **_**He smiles evilly as his eyes assuredly ascertain the High Priest's tall form pushing Kisara's body away at a safe distance from him.**

**Safe, or so he thought, for Seto's chivalry and protection of her was what Adonah was banking on. **

**"Seize her, my minions! It won't do to have her killed just yet..." A cloaked man in robes appears from the shadow as skeleton white hands grasp hold of her shoulders.**

**"Serenity!" Seto cries out as Adonah cackles at the awesome power of the glowing Millennium Rod he was about to unleash upon the vulnerable man now clearly in range...**

**"Master Seth!" **

**Adonah is caught off guard by Mahaad's blast of pure dark magic energy, as streams of purple light flow around him, wielding particles of rock and metal together, binding and reshaping around the Thief's wrists-orbs of energized 'handcuffs.'**

**The Millennium Rod yet again clatters to the ground as its misdirected blast crashes down a wall as it spins sporadically shooting deathly energy everywhere. Some of its wide sweep takes down one of Adonah's own lackeys, even though their numbers seemd to crawl out of the woodwork.**

**"You-" The Thief growls, cursing the Mage, as his pure anger lashes out. He does a backflip and jumps and leaps to avoid being hit by the burning streaks of magical energy. But his bound wrists keep his normally lightning speed reflexes from allowing him to avoid getting hit by bolts of streaming light, just grazing his already wounded thighs and arms and Adonah falls flatly to the ground on his face with a grunt.**

**In response to their leader being attacked, his dark cloaked followers all converge simultaneously on Mahaad, who was already wounded, and now also energy drained. He was doing his best to stave off the hordes, and Seto was busy punching his way out to save Serenity. He succeeded in overpowering the ones holding Serenity captive by knocking their heads together, as once freed, she melts into his arms.**

**"Mahaad! We're leaving!" Seto announces to the Magician out of some sense of male respect for the man's earlier save, but upon turning he finds the tall magician being surrounded and pummelled by wave after wave of each flunky's dark energy. **

**Seto watches blast after cruel blast torrent the poor man's body till he falls to his knees, his own magical staff limply falling to the ground as Mahaad begins to lose both fight and consciousness...**

_**In this time frame he's going to die soon anyway. Maybe it wasn't here helping me save Serenity, but he is going to die. Right?**_

**With widened eyes, Seto considers the knowledge of the past he had. But knowledge was nothing compared to the compelling urge to stop and save another man's life, however doomed in this era. Seto couldn't just stand there and let the man who made it possible for him to both find and rescue his Serenity just die before his eyes. **

**At least not without him doing something to try and stop it. **

_**Change destiny, huh? What the hell...I can change anything in my hands!**_

**"Serenity, run and don't stop. I'll be right behind you." The proud mind of Seto Kaiba pushes Serenity towards the exit as he dashes back, full speed, those all powerful picking up the lifeless Millennium Rod discarded on the floor as he goes by, destined to respond to his hands...**

_**...Mana...forgive me...There's so much left for me to teach you...**_

**Losing himself in the blinding light, Mahaad hears his own heart's conscience-a heart he knew not existed, call out to his favorite student. He had been a loner all his life, having few friends, and no interest save for the magic he studied in order to aid his Pharaoh in every way possible. For it was the Pharaoh, this young, most special Pharaoh, who had taken a liking to the lowly ranked master of magic. Though he was looked down upon by many other, Mahaad pledged his loyalty to his ruler-his loyalty and his life, if it was ever required. For Pharaoh had unofficially ordered Mahaad, his childhood friend, despite others disputing his choice, to be his Chief of Security. His power of the magical arts made him the perfect choice to forsee any imminent danger to the Crown. So, into the Pharaoh's close cabinet circle this low-classed magician was welcomed into by most of Pharaoh's loyal followers into his court.**

**And that's where he met her, too.**

**Never would the stoic man in Mahaad admit it, but he was pleased when one of the Pharaoh's young servants too interest in his work. Her childlike curiosity in his dark magic skills was so strong that one day he found her not only eating the luncheon she had brought for him in his laboratory as she had every day since she'd arrived at the palace, but also totally absorbed in one of the books of spells he himself had compiled and written in his own hand.**

**It wasn't the hot burning desire that Pharaoh's friend and hand soldier, Jono, had often teased Mahaad that he couldn't have, nor was it the romantic feeling of the softened heart that he heard Pharaoh speak to his new wife who had just arrived, between them.**

**It was something more of a feeling of connection-of understanding that caused the quiet loner in Mahaad to offer to share with the brown-haired, wide eyed girl his most secret arts. He believed, though her youth and innocence was evident in her big turquoise eyes, that she could be the one who would be able to, someday, match his prowess as a magician of the dark elements, and perhaps even become his...partner, in their mutual talent. **

**It was for those big, blue eyes that he consented to be her mentor, and she in her eagerness to learn, had become his favorite student and in turn, a friendship grew between them, from childhood into adulthood, when Mahaad now had duties to protect his Pharaoh and his kingdom.**

_**Mana, if you can hear me, bring the Pharaoh here. Bring him before he gets his filthy hands on tow of the most powerful items the world has ever seen. Priest Seth...My body-I can't do anything more to help him-or the girl whose destiny is demanding her to die. I feel the Priest would give up the Rod, if it meant to save her...**_

_**BLAST!**_

**With several well timed energy beams from his Rod, Seto blasts away hooded zombie after zombie from attacking Mahaad's broken and battered body with their own evil magic. Mahaad was only vaguely conscious of Seth's heroism as his body slumps to the ground. **

**Seto places the Rod in his belt as he slings Mahaad's arm over his neck as he prepares to drag the tall, thin man out to the doorway that stubborn Serenity was still standing in when a strangely eerie feeling of cold damp darkness befalls the entire room, trapping them within its darkness.**

**Unfortunately for them all, Seto also realizes what was happening and exactly whose realm these Shadoes were treading upon. He raises his Rod at the dark mists.**

**"What does it take to keep you down, you evil snake!" Seto's voice growls out in disgust and frustration of this damned thief's insistence on continuing to get up. **

**"Ah, so you're familiar with my Shadow Games, are you, High Priest? Well, are the rules: There are none! Save for the fact that not any of you sealed within my darkness can escape! And the stakes to this game? Take a guess!" With that unveiled threat at Kisara, the thief stands as if he felt no pain whatsoever, a smirk overtaking his face as his hands bound together by Mahaad's powers, forcefully yank free of their bondage. Nearly unconscious Mahaad had lost his control, whereas Adonah had only gained ground in his raw evil anger and hatred at them.**

**He twists his hands as if sculpting the shadows before him. Setos' slitted eyes open wide at Serenity's sudden screech behind him as her body is lifted and enveloped by shadows. They grasp her arms and legs, binding her in midair as she dangles. She was the prize and the victim in this thief's sick shadow game as her delicate body soars high into the thick as pea soup dark mists above both Seto and Adonah's heads. **

**"Care to wager a duel on who has the upper hand now, High Priest? Ha ha! Upper hand? Understand? I'm hilarious!" Adonah cackles at the fear arising in Seth's eyes and he revels in it. For it was a fearful man who made mistakes in a battle. Not a focused on like him.**

**"Grrrrrr!" Seto lets his anger get the better of him again. He rushes at the thief and shoots off the Millennium Rod at full blast to rid the world once and for all, of this scum who would dare to drag his precious Serenity into a shadow game...**

**"You won't catch me off guard thist ime, MASTER Seth! My Millennium item is just as powerful as yours, you forget!" Adonah shields himself from the Rod's energy blast attack with his Millennium Ring. Both items glowing immeasurably in the blinding light as two powerful forces collide, energy levels at their highest extent...**

_**Present Day...**_

**"So that's the whole story. So far. It's already been hours! So who know when they'll be back?" Rebecca's voice as a storyteller had her audience hanging on her every word. Ryou marvelled at how precisely detailed this intelligent young woman kept all the zany facts together, and spoken in such lovely tones, too. Ryou, not much of a public speaker himself, was grateful to his fellow observer to explaining the tale to the older gentlemen.**

**"Oh, I say, that is quite a story, children. But, considering the group of individuals here, I'm not surprised by anything anymore." Professor Hawkins say.**

**"Wouldn't you say, Solomon?" He looks around to see his best and oldest friend 'rearranging' Mai Valentine's short skirt on her unconscious body with bulging eyes.**

**"-Oh, uh, yes! Absolutely, Arthur!" Grandpa responds rather guiltily. Karen, who was keeping busy studying an unconscious body of her own, pauses in her carefully detailed drawing to give the old coot a disgusted clearing of her throat. But soon, her attention quickly returns to her newest and most intriguing find. **

**"Well, I suppose all we can do it wai-" The Professor's words are cut short by a series of strange outbursts and yells from somewhere back down the corridor they came from.-strange noises and scuffling boots running cause the Professor alarm.**

**"That must be Yugi's friend, Tristan, and those other youngsters we met back there. They must have frightened themselves silly by now in this old tomb. We'd better go round up those whippersnappers before they hurt themselves. Come on, Arthur." Grandpan Motou sighs. His fatherly instincts coming out when it came to caring for those 'young'uns' well being.**

**"But-Rebecca-" Another grandfather whose fatherly instincts of a different nature entirely, considers his own sweet and innocent granddaughter and that young man's sudden interest in his little girl.**

**"Oh, she'll be fine here, Arthur! Ryou's a good lad! Don't be an old crab! Karen'll stay here as chaperone if you feel that's necessary! Sweet muffins! You're still in the stone age, you old man! Let's go round up the rest of Yugi's gang." Grandpa was a freethinker for the number of years under his aged belt. He felt that love was best discovered in youth's flower, particularly after realizing that very few ladies were interested in his dried up old wilted petals.**

**"Well...if you insist, Solomon." Professor Hawkins gives Ryou Bakura one last questioning glance to which Ryou blinks back his lovely English brown eyes wide, totally innocent of all suspicions.**

**"Karen, dear?" Professor Hawkins calls across the room to his busy protege, Karen. But she was too absorbed in her studies to really care, so she just waves her hand at him, signalling to her teach an affirmative, in a kind of 'don't bother me, I'm busy in the discovery of a lifetime' way.**

**"Come on, Arthur! Before the trail goes completely cold!" The over enthusiastic explorer in Grandpa Motou never grew old. He yearned for the days of his exciting expeditions and archaeological adventures.**

**"Yes, yes, Solomon. All right!" Arthur Hawkins was by no means a impatient man, but something in Solomon's tone always worked up his ire. The two reverted back to their youth as boys when together, as the aches and pains of the elderly disappear down the long hallway, side by side, bickering all the while.**

_Min'na-sama! It's been too long, hasn't it? I'm so sorry for not updating sooner! We've been so busy with many things that our fanfictions had to take a backseat the past year. Thanks for waiting and keeping watch for updates. _

_The good news is that this YGO story is actually all written down in a notebook and only not typed out for uploading. I'll try to update as much as possible, but I think I'll rotate on the stories to be fair. So, please watch for the next chapter in the next few weeks or so, hopefully._

_God bless you! Thanks again for your kind interest and support! :hugs:_

_~Setsuna_


	30. Chapter 30

We do not own "Yu-Gi-Oh!" nor any of its characters.

**Chapter 30**

_At the Pharaoh's Palace..._

_**ZZZHHTTTT...**_

_"Mana...forgive me..."_

Her teacher's voice echoes throughout her head and Mana quickly passes little Yami over to his 'Da da.' Yugi's eyes pop out at the wriggling package just dumped unceremoniously into his arms. He had been busy attending to his swooning wife, while the rest of the gang were concerned about a recuperating Mai on the bed and the unconscious pair of Ishizu and Shadi on the floor.

"Prince! Mahaad's in trouble! Prince! Mahaad needs me!" Hysterically, Mana was beside herself and she sways dizzily at all the trouble entering her head. The only thing she was certain of was her teacher's beckoning call for help.

"Mana! Calm down." Feeling more Pharaoh-esque with every passing moment, he hands Yami back over to Tea, so he could give Mana's shoulders a good shake.

"But-!" She squeaks out, feeling helpless, weak and unfit to be her teacher's apprentice from the way she was reacting.

_But I just can't help it! To think he's in trouble..._

Mana starts biting her nails-a bad habit Master Mahaad was constantly trying to rid her of.

"You won't be of any help to him if you act so hysterically." Yugi tries to smile compassionately for his ancient friend's feelings, but at the same time, be the commanding Pharaoh requiring her to come to her senses.

"Ohhhh...he's hurt and I know where he is!" She shrieks out, biting back the tears behind her watery eyes as they lock with the Pharaoh's steely ones.

"Can you take us to him? We want to help Mahaad, too." Yugi says slowly and meaningfully, to let it sink into one of his favorites card's soft head.

"Yes! He asked for you! Yes, I can...I think...I'll try..." Mana begins to space out, conjuring spells rolling through her already addled brain, confusing it even more as she reaches down deep in her mind for a spell that Mahaad often called upon with ease.

"And take all of us this time!" 'Jono' clamors up from where he was sitting beside Mai on the bed. Joey was sure that if the strong Dark Magician was in danger, then his fragile little sister certainly would be as well.

_Dat Kaiba better be what she tinks he is..._

"Ooooh, I'll try hard!" The furrow of her brow was a sure sign that Mana herself was uncertain of her capability to teleport any of them, let alone a whole group of them. She balls her little hands into fists, then magically produces her bright blue and golden wand as she begins to chant spells under her breath. Everyone holds theirs as they watch.

"Oooh, ohhhh! I can't! I can't do it, Master Mahaad! I can't do it like you-I'm not good enough!" The young apprentice breaks down, falling to her knees before her Pharaoh at her mystical inadequacy and failure. Tears stream down her face as she glances around at Kareem, Shada, and Isis' faces. They were usually the ones to make the decisions around here, along with Mahaad-not her.

"Mana. It's all right. You can do it! Everyone's with you. They all believe in you. I believe in you." Queen Teana's melodic voice streams in through her servant's tears. She rises from her chair and goes to where the small girl was kneeling on the ground, as she places Yami into Yugi's willing arms along the way, so that she could take Mana's shoulders in her hands.

She looks seriously in Mana's teary eyes, the bluish-aqua shades of which were overflowing like a river, slowly ebbing now as Tea's lock with hers, with full faith in her abilities.

"And Mahaad believes in you, too, or he wouldn't have spent all his time teaching you his magic, would he?" Teana whispers now. Mana's tears were shared in her own eyes at the thought of her true love in danger. Tea never felt before so connected to another person beyond her Yugi, as she does for Mana right now.

Her bond was growing so strong that she too could hear Mahaad's mysterious words to his student echoing through her head now as well.

_'There's so much I have left to teach you...'_

The violet purple aura of his magic and mystical energies creep up from the picture in Mana's heart, up into the sea of her eyes. Tea somehow is not surprised to find Mana's eyes glowing, changing from blue to shades of royal purple haze, as unknown powers surge between the two women in this one moment of need, before unseen.

"Serenity!" Out of nowhere, from behind them, Mai gasps for air, breaking her silence as she clutches at both her arms and then her legs, as if feeling as invisible force shadowing over her limbs through Serenity's senses. "Joey! We must go to her now! We must! Take me to her, please!" She cries onto Jono's neck as he hugs her shaking body. There were tears in his eyes as well, for the helplessness he felt to help his kin.

"Mana!" Mai suddenly cries out, pushing Joey away, and jumping out of the bed to face the two women kneeling on the floor. In this moment of need, she recognized who they were. "Take my energies, too! I am your sister as well as Serenity's! You must stop her from killing herself before its too late!" Mai's enigmatic words puzzled them all as she rushes over to Teana and Mana, gripping both her shoulders. Her eyes turns a fierce shade of red at the thought of losing her 'sister.'

"Yes, we must gather her soul from this era before she is lost for all eternity.

"But it may already be too late..." Shadi's spooky voice comes out of nowhere. He stands and aids Ishizu's return to consciousness as they both rise, nodding to one another their new mission that first started by not losing sight of one point of fragile light.

"Now! Take us, sisters! Transport us to save her dimming light before it's distinguished forever!" Ishizu expounds, as she lends her strength as well, and the entire room reverberates with purple, aqua and black lights, mixing with a tinge of indigo and red as well. Everyone present zaps away under Mana's lead to where her heart was beckoning...

_...Mahaad...Master Mahaad! Finally, I feel capable to do anything for you...Master Mahaad, at last my magic can be strong...like you..._

_**KABOOM!**_

Both men fight to keep their ground as the force of the energy shockwave emitted from their sparring Millennium Items confrontation sends the two skidding backwards until only the solidity of the dark walls breaks their bodies' thrust back.

"Ugh!" Seto grunts when the luminous sphere that had clashed between them begins to fade, and the evil Thief was still standing there, cackling, with the arrogant curl of his lip.

Seto's eyes check on Serenity, who was still hanging midair, nearly unconscious above them.

"I'm not that easy to get rid of, High Priest. Maybe now you'll acknowledge that I, a lowly thief, and true owner of a Millennium Item, am the one worthy of usurping the Crown you yourself desire! So please allow me to relieve you of that begging problem once and for all!" Thief Bakura holds his Millennium Ring around his neck up like a crown encircling his demented head. "For I call forth the monster of your demise! Come, Diabound! Here your master's cry for victory!" The stone tablets on the walls all begin to tremble and shake, quaking with a dark presence as first the head, then the tail, then the oily body of a monstrous snake appears behind Adonah, hissing vehemently at Seth.

"Pity you don't have energy left in your Rod to call upon any monster powerful enough to even dream to match the awesome power of my creature! Oh, that is, unless you care to unleash your little girlfriend's Blue Eyes, White Dragon essence. That would be quite a show, wouldn't you agree, Diabound? Especially since it is she whose given me the powers to awaken you in the first place, my dear, dear Diabound. Yes, it's high time for a feeding again. You have waited so patiently for your meal, and dragon is on the menu, today, my sacred snake. It's your favorite kind, too-WHITE meat!"

Both man and snake hiss in a chuckle at the vulnerable girl hanging in the shadow's grasp. Seth glares at Bakura and his underlying meanings, while Bakura's tongue licks his lips in anticipation.

"Use your powers, High Priest! Do! I will put that energy to good use! To decimate the Pharaoh and all he holds dear, for my revenge, once and for all time!" Adonah takes this moment to point his Diabound's mouth with rows of sharp fangs to aim at Seth.

"I call upon Crawling Dragon in defense mode!" Seto recalls the way these ancients could summon forth their monsters by simply raising their items to the pyramid temple stones and the monster would come to their beckon, its energy shooting straight up from Seth's pyramid of monster tablets.

_**CRASH!**_

The dragon he summoned arrives just in time to be destroyed by Diabound's relentless blow, sparing Seth's lifepoints for the moment.

"You put your monster in defense? Is that the best you can do? Tsk, tsk. I don't see much of a man here." Adonah taunts Seth and his obliterated line of pitiful defense. "So why don't you use the powers of the White Dragon goddess now, High Priest? It would be most advantageous..." He teases.

"Stay out of it! I won't let you harm her, you sicko!" Seth spits out angrily, yet still refusing to call upon the vast promise of light within Serenity that was his only chance to stand against this overwhelming darkness.

"Oh, it won't be long now, Kisara. Your vast energies will be mine, very soon..." Adonah directs his sneering taunts above to the fainted girl hanging by her shadow spelled wrists, as she just awakens.

"Se...se...seto..." Serenity blinks weakly, until her eyes open wide in the realization she was hanging in the air, defying gravity several tens of feet above where her boyfriend was standing below.

"Serenity!" Kaiba calls out her name, seeing the startled fear in her now tightly shut eyes.

"Why am I up here? Oh! I'm scared of heights, Seto! Ohhhh!" Serenity begins bawling, and Kaiba would give anything to be able to calm and comfort her fears. It pained him that he could not even touch her.

Bakura takes this opportunity of Seth's inattention on him to silently direct his Diabound to attack again-but directly this time, out of turn, as Seth only manages to hold up his Rod in the second before the attack hits. The blast almost finishes him off, but his Rod's defense was just enough to keep him alive.

"SETOOOO!" Serenity screams. She was nothing but an audience watching as her love sinks to his knees on the ground. Seto was panting and grunting in pain just caused by the powerful blast, as he manages to hold onto consciousness, thanks to his Millennium Rod's shielding alone.

"KAIBA!" Several familiar voices call out the next moment, as they blink into the dark labyrinth to see their injured comrade fall to the deadly blow, just escaping with his life.

"My boy!" Pegasus gasps in horror for his son.

"STOP this madness, Bakura!" Pharaoh Atem's orotund voice bellows the order, as he and others behind him rush into the duel.

Mana flies to Mahaad side-he was still unconscious on the ground as she cradles him in her arms, chanting spells she never mastered to awaken her love.

"Serenity! Get 'er down from dere!" Joey cries upon his entrance. His eyes insane, as he sees his little sister dangling in the air with a web of shadows binding her. Mai holds Joey back from running towards Serenity as Bakura raises his Millennium Ring towards the Pharaoh with his Diabound now turning to face them threateningly.

"Do enter my Shadow Realm at your own risk, O wise and great Pharaoh! The pleasure is all mine! Ha ha ha ha ha!" Adonah cackles at the good luck of having his most sought after prey and all of his little minions adorned with every one of the Millennium Items, rush right into his lair.

_This world is now mine for the taking!_

Bakura feels the power of his Ring glow radiantly as it clashes with the Pharaoh's puzzle and all of the Millennium Items in the room react as the golden glow intensifies, traversing time and space...


	31. Chapter 31

We do not own "Yu-Gi-Oh!" nor any of its characters.

**Chapter 31**

_**Present Day...**_

_Oh wow! You're such a stunner, Ryou! _The little woman in Rebecca Hawkins giggles girlishly to herself as she revels at the young man's gorgeous frame before her as he stoops over checking the scattered people, occasionally checking wrists for pulses if their breathing had grown slow and shallow.

She marvels at how tall and perfect a manly figure he cut as he strides to and fro between bodies lining the large room. He was tall and slim under that striped blue and white shirt with grey jean, with just a tinge of muscle in the most correct of places.

_Oh! You're so handsome! _If they weren't in the midst of their friends in a dangerous situation, in a dark room full of ancient, creepy things like skeletons and bugs and such, not to mention the heaps of passed out bodies they were 'babysitting' dampening the atmosphere, Rebecca would be drooling even more than she already was.

But that kind of stuff didn't affect a tough little cookie like her. Rebecca could 'drool' all she liked, with or without the presence of creepy crawlies, spiders and scorpions and-

"Hey, Ryou! Do you need help with anything?" Rebecca had only a bit of fear tinging her voice as she scampers over to where the lavender haired boy was kneeling at Joey Wheeler's side. He stands up with a sheepish grin at the blonde girl, as he observes her trembling voice and equally trembling fists with a soft smile.

"Well, I...was just about to check on Mr. Seto Kaiba. Maybe you can examine the girl in his arms for a pulse. If you like, that is." Ryou indeed kneels down to check Kaiba's pulse. He was rather ashamed to pry the girl from his arms, but with Rebecca's help, it didn't seem so bad. With a degree of timidity, he watches Rebecca kneel close beside him, to check on Miss Serenity, and he feels his breath catch in his now dry throat. The sudden pulse racing beneath his fingertips on Seto Kaiba's wrist brought him back from his reverie of Miss Rebecca's soft, subtle perfume scent in such close proximity.

"Oh, I say!" Ryou is startled by the rising pace of Kaiba's pulse. It beat fiercely as the English lad's eyes widen in shocked amazement.

"Ryou! Look! Those Millennium Items! Every one of them are glowi-!" Rebecca's gaze darts back and forth between all the suddenly glimmering gold items held by unconscious hands or around unconscious necks. She just then notices that the Item around Ryou's neck didn't glow like the others, but rather radiated an illumination the likes of which Rebecca had never before seen. She gasps at its intensity-as it almost blinds her due to her nearness to him, hunched over kneeling on the ground.

"Miss Rebecca! Please stay back!" Ryou forces himself to push her away as far as possible. He felt not only the reawakened powers of his Millennium Ring, but also a sudden burning sense of need in him-a need of Yugi, of Tea, of Joey-of all his friends, as if they were calling to him in their danger, of their fears, as the beautiful soul in this most timid of young men, feels their pain and senses their imminent need for his aid.

And all the help he could offer, he would give. Even if it meant everything.

"Ryou! Ryou! What are you doing? Ryou...!" Rebecca begins to scream out his name in horror, as she gets up off the ground and runs to him, while witnessing his Millennium Ring's glow around his neck start to spread to his entire being. It was the same light she had seen earlier. His Millennium Ring radiating in an eerie, intense glow, paralleled only by the luster Rebecca had witnessed before in Tea's Millennium Pendant-the one that had transported everyone's soul away into the pages of ancient history...

"Ryou! Don't go there!" She shrieks, aware now that her Ryou Bakura was about to join his friends in the past. Perhaps due to the mimicking powers of the Ring, it didn't require the offering of all the others' energies. It already mirrored the power and energies poured into Tea's Pendant, as it had reflected in his eye...

"Miss Rebecca! Please! I hear them calling...I sense their extreme danger, it's life and death...because of him...again...I must go." He cries with a desperate voice, torn between going towards unknown danger and staying close by her.

But the chivalrous gentleman within him wins over the selfish thoughts of self-preservation.

"Ryou! I want you here with me! Ryou! You might get hurt!" Rebecca was nearly hysterical, knowing full well that her British 'chap' was leaving her behind to march headfirst into trouble, and maybe never return.

"I can't let any of them down again. They need me right at this moment, Miss Rebecca, or I know they will all die. He will kill them for certain, if I don't do something to stop him. I will not be weak this time." Ryou calls out, feeling he was leaving his body as his soul begins to slip away from the physical surroundings of the tomb he was in.

"Ryou, I-!" Rebecca tries to say as she turns to embrace him, only to find his thin, frame going limp in her arms as his soul separates from his body as it travels through time and space.

"I promise to come back to you, Rebecca. I swear it..." Ryou's hoarse whisper had come out raspy with every last bit of energy his strained body could muster in a pledged farewell to return. His fingers lightly touched her trembling cheek, and with those final words coming from his lips, the Millennium Ring around his neck gives one blinding flash of light before its erect golden points that had been signalling wildly towards Yugi's Puzzle suddenly drop lifelessly to Bakura's now unconscious neck. His body collapses into her as he joins the others in a journey through time, but he was all alone, save for the thought of Miss Rebecca's beautiful clear eyes, filled with tears for him.

Someone who genuinely cared for him, and gave him the courage to do what his heart dictated he must...

"Ryou...I love you..." Rebecca finally finishes her sentence to unhearing ears, as his head falls limply against her sobbing chest.

_**The Past Millennia of moments ago...**_

"No, Thief! I will not allow you to use the power of the Millennium Items for your personal gain!" It sounded just like Atem would've said, in his deepest and most commanding of voices, standing in his most arrogantly confrontational of stances, although right now, it was just Yugi Motou within Atem's body.

But right now, even 'little Yugi' could really feel like his more authoritative self. Right now, that despicable Thief once again had put everything on the line and that made him angry.

"As if you could ever phase me with your oh-so-grandiose words, Pharaoh! Now that my Ring has usurped each of your Millennium Items' energies, my Diabound will be unstoppable! Especially after I finish draining the immeasurable powers of the legendary Blue Eyes, White Dragon! Even your Egyptian gods will fall before me and I will be the greatest god of them all, at last!" The madman was cackling, his ranting and raving of world domination and unlimited prowess, as he uses the massive golden energies of all the Millennium Items sucked into and gathered within his Ring to fly upwards to where Serenity Wheeler (in Kisara's body, actually) was dangling in suspended motion high up in the air.

Malevolently taking her in his arms, he forcefully kisses her dazed mouth as he draws her body close to his. "We could have done this the easier, more pleasant way, before that dratted priest interfered! However, consider this kiss 'goodbye,' Kisara. Not really though, for the White Dragon essence existing now within you, will soon exist within me. Or more precisely, in my Diabound. Come, my creature! Devour her lifeforce and merge it with yours! The infinite powers of these Millennium Items now under my control will make her vast energies emerge within you, Diabound, once the White Dragon is inside your shadowy body! Eat to your heart's content, my great beast and make me immortal!"

He had truly gone mad. Everyone on the ground below was sure of that fact, even before his crazed eyes and insane, warped face had even uttered the words. They watched Thief Bakura kiss a half-fainted white-haired Serenity, hanging in mid-air and then toss her away as if she were just so much flotsam. He then agilely flips acrobatically as he floats down astride his evil snake's neck. His hand and pointing finger signalled to the great beast to carry out his will and devour Kisara alive, with Serenity Wheeler's consciousness within her, to gain the energies within her frail body at last.

Diabound's sharpened rows of teeth glistened in the darkness as Serenity passes out completely in sheer fright. Her targeted body dangling in air was ripe for the picking.

"SERENITY!"

Their Millennium Items were drained and useless against the creature who had already absorbed them. Down below, several voices scream out their friend/sister/lover's name. Joey, Yugi and Tea, along with all the others cry out a plea to this most terrible of fate.

But destiny was too powerful a force for mere humans to defy-to change, it seemed...

"NOOOOOOOOOO!" Seto Kaiba's yell was in a class all its own, a ferocity in his deep voice as his extremely damaged body leaps up in a vain attempt to race to his love's aid, one more time. He damned the Thief, Egypt, and the entire world, for the sin against him that he hadn't wings to fly to rescue the greatest treasure of his heart from death's fangs...

But she did.

In the flash of a multi-second, even before her distraught mind had registered what her heart had already seen, Mai Valentine reaches within herself, for no voice could be louder, more profound, than that of the pleading voice of truth screeching within Mai's fiery soul.

She was a woman, past, present and future, who was willing to give everything, even her own life, to keep the flame of light alive within her cherished partner-the other half of her being, the truest friend and comrade, a burning light of friendship that this current 'holder of the flame' would not allow to be extinguished within the mirrored soul of her-

"Sister! I must protect you!" A voice not his own screams as Joey Wheeler's eye bulge even more than they already were, in his fear for Serenity when he hears the woman beside him explode with a voice both in his ears and in his heart. A piece of him blazes to life unknown as he watches Mai's tall blonde body blacken and contort, reshaping as it grows larger and larger in its black darkness into something else that Joey Wheeler knew quite well. His Mai, in an Egyptian body, was transforming into a being with which Joey had a special bond-a special love for.

And now he knew why.

"Red Eyes..." Joey whispers in disbelief as the dragon before him reopened her fiery red eyes and spread her black wings wide...

"Red Eyes Black Dragon? My Mai is Red Eyes, Black Dragon?" Joey yells above the roars and shrieks that the newly found dark dragon of fire was letting out as, with one goal blazing in her, the Red Eyes dragon takes off, not waiting for her master's signal to intercept the Millennium infused Diabound from swallowing Serenity/Kisara whole.

The snake instead closes it jaws around this more armored black dragon's ebony scales. Red Eyes retaliates with a fiery blast of flame directly in Diabound's fanged face. The direct attack of intense flame blinds the powerful snake as it writhes back in pain, caught offguard by another sacred beast confronting it.

"Agghhhh!" The Thief Adonah, too, cries out in pain as he shields his face from the hot, searing fire surrounding so close to his body. He flails backwards, mimicking his evil snake's pain, for he, too was somehow connected to his Diabound, just as Mai and Serenity were to their respective dragons.

Diabound's snivelling, snakelike hissing shrinks back into the far corner of the ceiling as Red Eyes Black Dragon, a born attacker, continues to pummel it with fiery flame after fiery burst at the opposing force that had attacked her 'sister,' the Blue Eyes White Dragon.

And if you didn't already know it, both Mai Valentine and Red Eyes had a very bad temper when aroused.

"Mai! Stop already! The roof'll come down on ya both!" Joey immediately gets with the program. He didn't find it so terribly hard to believe that his gal and his dragon shared the same soul kinda thing. Mai always did remind him of an angry dark dragon when she got angry at him.

Joey watches as the blistering heat and sweltering flame engulfs the old ceiling rafters as they begin to shower down cinder and ash over both his weak sister, still floating in the air, and his strong girlfriend, eh, dragon.

"Ughnnn...!" Adonah grunts again as he is hit with a fully enflamed beam from the ceiling. His floating body plummets down to the ground with a thud amidst the burnt crisps of the building in ashes.

But as he falls, so do his shadow spells. The darkness lifts over Serenity, as her body suddenly begins to descend to the unforgiving floor below, while everyone watches with a gasp. Joey races towards her desperately but he knew in his heart of hearts that he was just too far away to catch her...

But fortunately, Seto Kaiba wasn't. His long legs and athletic build leapt and bound fearlessly through ash, flame and cinders raining down. He cared about nothing but catching his love. His life was meaningless without her goodness of soul to grace it. It was something the cold-hearted man Seto Kaiba had learned slowly, the hard way.

_Serenity...you will not leave me, ever again._

His masculine mind orders as his body flies like the wind. He dives to catch her no longer possessed body. Her naked form was obscured by the darkness below, as all eyes only see the blinding war of fire and flame enveloping the skies above them.

All eyes, save for the one who loved her the most. Seto clearly saw Serenity's need as her petite, lithe body fell directly into his arms, as he spins gracefully down to his knees from the momentum of precisely calculated speed and rhythm. Seto Kaiba would never let down those he loved. For her, he could do anything.

Anything but live without her.

Serenity was safe and breathing as he cradled her, desperately kissing her. By the time Joey arrives, he placates his anger by donating Jono's cape and throwing it over the kissing pair kneeling on the ground, who only had eyes for one another.

With a sigh, Joey turns to watch, in first dazzled awe, then awestruck fear, as Red Eyes Black Dragon, her mission to save her soulmate, Blue Eyes White Dragon, fulfilled, begins to detransform before his eyes. She half-way glides and half-way plunges towards the dark floor below, and Mai Valentine falls into Joey's catching arms, just as Serenity did to Kaiba's, just maybe not so gracefully, as Joey and Mai sink to the ground in a plopped heap, both of them knocked out cold.

"Wow! Mai saved Serenity! She's a dragon, too!" Tea says, tears sneaking down her face onto 'her' confused baby's cheeks.

"Dra-gun...?" Baby Yami coos the word. He liked it and the big fireworks display he had just seen.

"Yes, Yami, they're both dragons...So is our mission here solved? Kisara has been saved by her sister dragon." Yugi tries to figure out the situation aloud, though half of the people around didn't understand a word their new Pharaoh was saying.

"Before, it only ended here. But it did not begin here." Shada steps forward in his enigmatic way. He and Isis shared a glance with a nod, as Joey and Kaiba carry their respective unconscious girls back to the group.

"What do you mean by that, Shadi? Explain." Yugi questions as Kara notices Marik/Namu giving the sullen vizier a dirty look, for sharing secrets with his sister, Ishizu.

"Here, in this place, we cannot stop what has already begun to decay permanently. We can only halt its path of destiny for a time. But we cannot alter destiny from here indefinitely. We have been told, I have had a vision." Ishizu continues the thought, giving both her brother and her ruler, the Pharaoh, a serious face.

"A vision of destiny? Do tell. I'm all ears, Pharaoh." Beneath the rubble of charcoal cinders and ash, the thief's silvery-lavender head emerges. His hatred and anger made him a powerful force indeed, plus the energies gathered of the Millennium Items were still hung around his neck.

Everyone gasps in shock. After a fall like that, any normal human being would most certainly be dead. But Adonah was no longer a normal human man. He gave up his soul to the snake long ago. Diabound, the creature, never ceased to exist, though the serpent lay dormant for a time, even in the most sacred of Gardens...

"Joey! Kaiba! Marik! Get everyone out of here! This is between him and me!" Yugi shouts in anger at this, his most vile rival, as the other men scurry Tea and the others up the steps and away, while the shadows emerge.

"Diabound!" The Thief calls out his serpent's name as the man rises to his feet. The snake, though charred and burnt by Black Dragon's fiery attacks, was still a force to be reckoned with. He, like his master, had waited patiently for when the dragons were off the playing field, looming in the shadows in was born from, fangs readied to strike.

"Foolish Pharaoh! You're defenseless without your Millennium Item to power you! At long last! ULTIMATE PINNACLE SHOCKWAVE!" He cries out his beast's strongest attack. Its energy blast streams towards the escaping group as the men attempt to shield the women from the snake's deadly beam.

But Thief Bakura cackled his last laugh when suddenly a dark dome of purple and cerulean energies swirl around their friends protectively.

"I DON'T require the Millennium Items when I have the everlasting power of friendship to guide my path!" Yugi's deep, (pompous) voice resounds throughout the magical dome cover that Dark Magician, though weakened, was aided by Mana, the Dark Magician Girl, to create, as they offer up their last defense against the beast's energy.

The pair had stayed at their Pharaoh's side despite his order to leave. Their shield, however, just barely holds and then fizzles out in their exhaustion.

But the group was saved...for now.

Pharaoh gives both Mahaad and Mana a grateful nod of recognition across the room.

"Fine then, Pharaoh. You just see how much your precious friendship can endure my evil." Adonah glances up at the rapidly collapsing ceiling with a sneer. "This is the end for you, dear Pharaoh. I will have my revenge this day, even if the roof caves in on me from the force of my attack. I don't care. You will be dead at my feet at last, for all the past suffering you've caused me! You and the woman you love, holding your stripling of a child, will die in recompense for what you have taken from me. My indomitable spirit for revenge will never cease to exist in this world! When my Diabound unleashes his power to crush you all, the rest of this decimated room will fall upon all your deserving heads, and I will be the one to collect all of your Millennium Items. Die, Pharaoh, die!" The Thief cries out as he directs his arm out towards the snake emerging from the shadows he heralded from, once again.

Raw energy palpitates from its fanged mouth, aimed towards Pharaoh and the two magicians left totally helpless and powerless without the energies of the Millennium Items. Mahaad was drained totally as he pushes Mana behind him. He stood beside his Pharaoh till the bitter end, but not...little Mana...

_Please live..._

His dark eyes plead with hers. She obeys her teacher and runs up the staircase with tears streaming down her cute face as she realizes his love for her was displayed so beautifully clear in those eyes of hope...

"Diabound! Pinnacle-!" The angry fire burning in the Thief's eyes, locked within Yugi (Pharaoh's) exotically furrowed ones, knowing his demise was imminent, suddenly goes all shocked and stiff. The Thief's determined, arrogant stance lurches forward, as if immersed in a shockwave of energy all its own.

A shockwave of goodness, an infusion of purity and light replacing his dark, wretched evil...


	32. Chapter 32

We do not own "Yu-Gi-Oh!" nor any of its characters.

**Chapter 32**

_**Present**_

"Ryou! Ryou! Wake up, Ryou! Ryou!" The faint voice of a young woman was crying, calling to him with someone else's name. The thief recognized the voice immediately and his consciousness was quick enough to respond as his tempered mind tried to stretch back to the sound of that voice from a time before he was who he was now...

"Becca?" Adonah almost whispers, but as he opens his eyes his anger at being fooled flares to the nth degree.

_No one toys with my memories of her! You are not Becca!_

"Yes, Ryou, it's me, Rebecca-ahhhh!" Rebecca screams as Ryou's hand swiftly and unexpectedly snatches around her neck.

"Who ARE YOU?! Why are you trying to deceive me?! Who sent you?!" Adonah hisses in his snakelike way as he rises to his feet, Rebecca held by the neck up easily in his now ruthless and powerful arms.

"Ryou! cough Ryou, it's me-cough Ryou!...What's wrong?! cough choke" Rebecca chokes out as his massive hands grip her straining throat-the kindness and light completely missing from her Ryou's beautiful eyes.

_Ryou..._

"Let go of her, you lavender haired nutcase!" Karen had taken several self-defense training courses before and they came in handy right about now, when she sees Rebecca's suddent betrayed need for help. She races up like the wind and gives a swift kick to the girl's assailant's lower half, but he doesn't double over in pain like all the training videos said he should.

"Hey! What's your boyfriend made of?! I kicked him hard! He should be down by now!" Karen cries out in astonishment as she knew her physical skills were pretty darn good. She'd never seen a guy like this before.

_He didn't even wince! _

In fact, he was smiling at her with a wild look in his eyes.

"He's-not-my-Ryou!" Rebecca takes his inattention on her to use both of her feet and legs on his chest, to power kick herself away from his grip. Leverage is a beautiful thing when your body is small as she flies in the opposite direction hard to the floor, as he stumbles backward.

But not far enough.

"You little-!" The thief begins to curse, as one swift sidehand from him knocks the redhead, while she was attempting to tackle him to the ground. He makes rather a show of stomping towards Rebecca as she shrivels back away from him. His eyes flare at her in anger, mixed with intrigue, and Rebecca discovers she had unfortunately twisted her ankle in the process of getting away from him.

"Get away from her, you freak!" Karen gets up, trying a few karate moves on the man, but he, once again, thrusts her away like nothing more than a fly. Karen crashes to the ground again with a painfilled yelp.

Two would-be rescuers come running at her call, just in time, to see little, kindly Ryou Bakura throw Karen down to the ground with utter force and maliciousness.

Duke and Tristan, both seasoned duel watchers, recognize him instantly for who he was-or rather, wasn't-at the moment.

"Not him again!" Tristan whines as Duke rushes in heroically to save his friend, Bec. The little blonde genius girl had backed herself into a corner, while Miho, who had arrived with the pair, begins screaming uncontrollably.

"Oh, yeah, it's him." Tristan comments as Duke is swatted away like a bug by the unbelievably powerful evil spirit of the Ring. Tristan, no thought to his own fear and sure defeat, rushes in to save Rebecca as well, leaving Miho standing there shrieking at the violence.

_**Slam!**_

Tristan's body is also flung away in his attempt to slow this angered powerhouse residing inside timid Ryou's body. The two boys come back twice more each, with varied punches and kicks, but the wily thief matches each blow for blow, plus some of his own. Duke and Tristan are battered and bloody by the end of Round 3.

"Had enough, boys?" 'Ryou' says in his oh-so-English tones, with an arrogance flowing from him that causes the next person to enter the room lick her lips in anticipation.

_Oooh, how alluring...Nice..._

"They might have, but I haven't! Hi-ya!" From behind him, totally unexpected, Vivian Wong's version of karate/kung fu/street fighting lets loose. She had no mercy in her quick chops and swift hits in just the right choice spots. Vivian was very precise when it came to her skills and prided herself on being able to defeat any man, even one as sturdy and virile as this, and in less than a minute to boot.

"Hi-ya! Hi-ya! Hiya hiya! Hi-ya!" Hands and palms and kicks and feet and legs and arms fly through the air like a flowing stream of water suspended in the air in slow motion. Vivian Wong, Chinese kungfu expert, was one with nature, one with her surroundings, and one with kicking butt, too!

"Hi-YA! And stay down! Whoo! That guy was a toughie!" Vivian comments, blowing air through her lips as the lavender haired wimpy looking guy (Yeah, sure!) goes down without a further word, or sound. She had thoroughly knocked Ryou-the thief-unconscious, facedown in the dirt. "Try to get up from that, fella!" Vivian sings out giddily, her every sense excited from the battle.

"Oh! My poor Ryou!" Rebecca causes a cynical look to sweep over Vivian's face. She had absolutely no idea about all the soul-switching and could only imagine that the little blonde genius must've turned ditz since last they met-and dueled. She used to have a bit of respect for the pipsqueak before this open display of dumb naivete for some psycho boy who had attacked her.

_Okay, he's gorgeous, but, girl! Get a life! There's more to men than their stunning figures, faces and hair! Not to mention a nice tight-_

"Vivian Wong! Duke, did you see?! That was really-!" Tristan Taylor was at a loss for words as he shakes his head at this Chinese chick's roundhouse kicks, spins and punches that could take out a big bad bogie like Bakura.

"Very impressive, Miss...? I didn't catch your name." Duke Devlin turns on his usual charm, despite the bloodied jaw and beat up body. Undoubtedly, he was certainly turned on by this black haired vixen, who he felt was more than capable to take him on.

_If I was interested..._

Duke was still conceited, having that 'wonderful me' attitude, but maybe, just maybe, there'd be room for a woman.

If she was a good as he was, that is.

"It's Vivian. Vivian Wong. And yes, you did catch my name. Did I catch yours, Mr. Duke Devlin?" Vivian flirts right back in that coy amorous way they both shared.

_Maybe I have room for a man - if he's almost as good as I am, that is. Hmm...to start with, he does have a nice tight butt..._

Vivan whistles under her breath as she examines the merchandise obviously on sale before her.

"You just did." Duke winks at her, and drapes his arm on the wall behind her, blaming his injured body needed some support, as his flips his long bangs and ponytail back. A sly look comes to his dark emerald eyes while the two chuckle with each other, ignoring their surroundings as they chat it up.

"Oh, nice! The great 'Don Juan' is on the prowl again." Tristan mutters under his breath sourly as he scans the room. There was no use talking to Rebecca-she was weeping onto Ryou's passed out body so loudly he could barely think. Finally, he decided to talk to the red haired girl instead. She seemed to have some fixation on Marik's back, judging from the way she had just dropped and forgotten about all that had just occurred, to go back to scribbling notes, studying his exposed back intently.

"Now where was I?" She was mumbling to herself, trying to pick up where she had left off.

"So, umm, Miss...ummm..." Tristan vainly attempts to break into Karen's concentration but he gives up with a sigh, turning around just to catch sight of some movement...

"Eek! Eek! Eek!" Miho gives off some staccato sudden shrieks.

"What is it?! Miho!" Tristan quickly spins to see what was wrong with his periwinkle-haired girlfriend. She runs to him as she points a cold finger, trembling in sheer fright.

"Th-tha-tha-that body...!" Miho stammers out in fear.

"What? Oh, that? There's bodies everywhere, Miho. But don't you fret. Uncle Tristan will take care of everything-wahhhhh! Did you just see that one move?!" 'Uncle' Tristan almost wets his pants as the big form of Odion begins to stir at his feet. Shadi, Ishizu, Kaiba, Pegasus, Yugi, Tea and Joey also leaning on the wall beside Odion, also begin to awaken.

"They must be coming back! That's great! Hey, guys!" Tristan bends down to grasp Yugi's shoulders as his friend begins to awaken...

Or so he thinks...

"Who are you?! Unhand the Pharaoh, you ruffian!" Those were certainly words that Tristan hardly expected to hear from his good childhood school buddy, Yugi Motou, nor even from the Pharaoh, Atem, who he, Tristan, himself had had quite a large role in helping find his peace in the past...

"Yugi? I mean-Pharaoh? I'm your buddy! You remember, right? Your good buddy, Trist-" Tristan begins to say, a bit shaken by the total unrecognition on the young boy's face.

"He must be possessed by demons, your Highness. Allow me to expunge them from his soul." Shada (within Shadi) offers as he gains consciousness. Millennium Key was soon in his hand, pointing at the pointy headed young man as Tristan cowers back.

"Hey! Don't go sticking that thing at my head, Shadi!" Tristan cries, waving his hands as he moves backwards.

"My husband, what strange garb he is wearing, this kidnapper." Queen Teana, in Tea's body, touches Tristan's arm from behind him, and fingers the quilted vinyl jacket he was sporting.

"Husband? Tea? Oh, I get it."

"Don't touch him, my Queen! He may be diseased!" Kaiba's voice, with a slight accent, breaks through the conversation.

"Leave it to ancient Kaiba to say something nasty to me." Tristan almost wishes he'd not said the words as Kaiba-ahem, Priest Seth-is the first to stand, strongly lifting the woman in his arms, wondering why her white hair was now a lovely shade of titian.

"High Priest Seth! Pardon this lowly temple guard of Pharaoh's army." Then Joey (with Jono's mind) turns to Tristan and shouts "Shut up, Timor!" while bowing at Kaiba's feet humbly in contrition for his 'friend's' ill manners.

"Now I'm really weirded out." Tristan pinches himself to make sure he was still conscious, after witnessing the display of Joey bowing at Kaiba's feet. "Joey bowing to Kaiba?! No way! Get real! This can't be them! Joey'd rather eat worms that do that!"

"Ohhh...my back..." Karen shrinks back from touching the carved up back of the tanned man she was kneeling beside. She was too stunned by the gleam in his impressive eyes as he turned to face her for the first time, to really hear what he was saying.

"Kara, what's wrong with my back? I know I was knifed by the thief earlier today, but this feels far worse now than before. It's painful all over, Kara! Help me!" Namu Ishtar, in Marik's body, wrenches in the pain that his great-great-great descendant was accustomed to. Marik had grown used to the dull throbbing ache that every carved line and scratched hieroglyphic on his back caused with every stretch, every move, each second of his young life.

"Shh, it's all right. Don't move so much and it won't hurt." Karen feels her heart go out to the boy a year or two younger than herself. She caresses his "injured" back with a soft tenderness she didn't even know she possessed. She didn't question why this boy was so familiar with her. She knew she hadn't even met this tall, thin lad anywhere before.

_I would certainly have remembered such a face!_

Though pained, his eyes had told her more in that brief moment she had glimpsed them and she considered the sacred tombkeeper, Ishtar, to be the most handsome man he had ever seen in her life. There was something about him...besides his intriguing back, and Karen massages both back and chest, to try to alleviate his suffered gasps and pained breath. She wondered how he had lasted so long like this if it hurt so without medical treatment.

"I've got you..." She whispers tenderly in his ear, feeling a strange closeness to the boy, as his sweet nature was evident in his smile up to her in gratitude, despite the pain...


End file.
